The study area was located in four counties (or districts) of Hubei province China, namely Dongbao District, Dawu County, Tongshan County, and Sui County (Fig. 1). This area has a humid sub-tropical monsoon climate. The annual mean temperature, total sunshine hours, and total rainfall were 15.1 °C, 1950 h and 977 mm, respectively in Dongbao District; 15.3 °C, 2153 h and 1122 mm, respectively in Dawu County; 16.3 °C, 1845 h and 1500 mm, respectively in Tongshan County; and 15.4 °C, 2035 h and 968 mm, respectively in Sui County. The study area consists mostly of mountains and hills with a peak elevation of 684, 858, 954 and 1140 m in these four counties (or districts), respectively. The vegetation in the area is primarily evergreen broad-leaf forest and evergreen deciduous and broad-leaved mixed forest.
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