Data from: Changes in biotic and abiotic drivers of seedling species composition during forest recovery following shifting cultivation on Hainan Island, China

Seedlings play an important role in the processes of plant community
succession. We compared seedling (dbh < 1 cm) species composition
and diversity over a chronosequence (18-, 30-, 60-year-old second growth
and old growth forest) after shifting cultivation in a tropical lowland
rain forest area on Hainan Island, China. Seedling diversity reached a
maximum in the 60-year-old second growth forest, which is consistent with
the intermediate disturbance hypothesis. With the progression of secondary
succession, canopy openness (CO), soil organic matter, soil phosphorus
content, and tree abundance showed a general decreasing trend; soil water
content and tree basal area showed a general trend of increase, while soil
pH and other nutrients reached maximum values and tree richness reached a
minimum value at intermediate stages of succession. Seedling composition
and diversity were significantly affected by soil water, pH, soil nutrient
content, and biotic factors in the 18-year-old second growth forests; by
soil pH, soil nutrient content, and biotic factors in the 30-year-old
second growth forests; by CO, soil nutrient content and tree abundance in
the 60-year-old second growth forests; and by CO, soil pH, and soil
nutrient content in the old growth forests. At earlier stages of
succession, the effect of the proportion of old growth forest in the
surrounding landscape on seedling diversity was greater than that of
land-use history, but the importance of these drivers was reversed at
later stages of succession.