Abstract:The role of understory plants on nutrient cycling of a restoring degraded pine forest in Dinghushan Biosphere Reserve of subtropical China was studied, by quantifying litterfall, decomposition and nutrient dynamics of understory plants in the ecosystem during an eleven year period During that period of restoration, litterfall of understory plants increased at a mean rate of 38 percent with years except for the fifth year. By the fourth year of the experiment, annual litterfall was 0 20 t·hm -2 ·a ...