Table 3. Correlations between the residual mass of litter and litter quality, soil temperature, and soil water content.

Residual mass	ST	SWC	C	N	P	C:N	Cellulose	Lignin
L. chinensis	0.823**	0.920**	0.929*	0.944**	0.382*	-0.936**	0.984*	-0.884***
P. communis	0.642*	0.565*	0.286*	0.676**	0.983***	-0.550**	0.960*	-0.722*

C = total C; N = total N; P = total P; ST = soil temperature, SWC = soil water content.

*denotes significant difference at P < 0.05;

** denotes significant difference at P < 0.01;

*** denotes significant difference at P < 0.001.