Supplemental Table 1.Experimental design and litter species mixing treatments. The asterisks (*) indicate blocks which were destroyed before the third sampling date and were not included in the analyses. Liquidambar formosana (Liqu), Machilus thumbergii(Mach), Quercus serrata (Quer), Schima superba (Schi),Castanopsis eyrie(Casa), Castanea henryi (Cahe), Cyclobalanopsis glauca (Cycl).

Block / Plot / Species pool / Species mixture / Diversity level
1 / 1 / 1 / Liqu, Querc / D2
2 / 1 / Liqu, Mach / D2
3 / 1 / Mach, Schi / D2
4 / 1 / Liqu / D1
5 / 1 / Mach, Querc / D2
6 / 1 / Schi / D1
7 / 1 / Querc, Schi / D2
8 / 1 / Querc / D2
9 / 1 / Liqu, Mach, Querc, Schi / D4
10 / 1 / Liqu, Schi / D2
11 / 1 / Mach / D1
2 / 1 / 2 / Schi / D1
2 / 2 / Casa, Cahe / D2
3 / 2 / Cycl, Schi / D2
4 / 2 / Schi, Cahe / D2
5 / 2 / Cahe, Cycl / D2
6 / 2 / Cycl / D1
7 / 2 / Cahe / D1
8 / 2 / Casa, Schi, Cahe, Cycl / D4
9 / 2 / Casa / D1
10 / 2 / Casa, Cycl / D2
11 / 2 / Schi, Casa / D2
3* / 1 / 1 / Querc / D1
2 / 1 / Liqu, Mach, Querc, Schi / D4
3 / 1 / Schi / D1
4 / 1 / Schi, Querc / D2
5 / 1 / Liqu / D1
6 / 1 / Mach, Schi / D2
7 / 1 / Mach, Querc / D2
8 / 1 / Liqu, Mach / D2
9 / 1 / Liqu, Querc / D2
10 / 1 / Liqu, Schi / D2
11 / 1 / Mach / D1
4* / 1 / 2 / Schi, Cycl / D2
2 / 2 / Schi, Casa / D2
3 / 2 / Casa, Cycl / D2
4 / 2 / Cahe, Cycl / D2
5 / 2 / Schi / D1
6 / 2 / Casa / D1
7 / 2 / Cahe / D1
8 / 2 / Schi, Casa, Cahe, Cycl / D4
9 / 2 / Schi, Cahe / D2
10 / 2 / Cycl / D1
11 / 2 / Casa, Cahe / D2

Supplemental Table 2. Effects of block, litter composition, and litter diversity (div), the relative abundance (mol%) of individual lipid indicators of Gram+, Gram-, general fungi (GF), arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), and actinomycetes. Litter diversity was analyzed as both a log-linear contrast (log(div)) and as a factorial variable (as.factor(div)). Data include only one time point. Values are F values from ANOVA. ***P0.001, **P0.01, *P0.05. Significant correlations at P0.05 are in bold.

Nominator / Denominator / F values and significance
Terms / Terms / df / ddf / Gram+ / Gram- / GF / AMF / Actinomycetes
block / residuals / 1 / 22 / 1.31 / 2.34 / 7.2* / 3.69 / 3.34
log(div) / block×composition / 1 / 18 / 1.79 / 1.92 / 0.38 / 5.30* / 4.85*
as.factor(div) / block×composition / 1 / 18 / 1.28 / 1.00 / 0.23 / 0.00 / 0.36
block×composition / residuals / 18 / 22 / 0.58 / 1.65 / 2.70* / 0.93 / 0.91

Supplemental Figure S1. Initial litter chemistry differences between the two species pools (red dashed lines indicate specie pool 1 and green dashed lines indicate species pool 2) used to create litter mixtures by Principal component analysis. Initial litter chemical content include litter carbon content (C_g_g), nitrogen content (N_g_g), C/N (Cnratio), phosphorous content (P_mg_g), potassium content (K_mg_g), calcium content (Ca_mg_g), magnesium content (Mg_mg_g), manganese content (Mn_mg_g), sodium content (Na_mg_g), and sulfur content (S_mg_g).


Supplemental Figure S2.Structural equation models fitting litter mass remaining and enzyme activities of BG, NAG, AP, XL, PO and PER in dependence of soil water content (SWC), and litter species diversity at the time point 1. The diagrams show standardized path coefficients and associated statistical significances in the structural equation modeling based on all time points. Significance level: *** P0.001, ** P0.01, * P0.05, (*) P0.1.


Supplemental Figure S3.Structural equation models fitting litter mass remaining and enzyme activities of BG, NAG, AP, XL, PO and PER in dependence of soil water content (SWC), and litter species diversity at the time point 2. The diagrams show standardized path coefficients and associated statistical significances in the structural equation modeling based on all time points. Significance level: *** P0.001, ** P0.01, * P0.05, (*) P0.1.


Supplemental Figure S4.Structural equation models fitting litter mass remaining and enzyme activities of BG, NAG, AP, XL, PO and PER in dependence of soil water content (SWC), and litter species diversity at the time point 3. The diagrams show standardized path coefficients and associated statistical significances in the structural equation modeling based on all time points. Significance level: *** P0.001, ** P0.01, * P0.05, (*) P0.1.

Supplemental Figure S5. Structural equation models fitting litter mass remaining and enzyme activities of BG, NAG, AP, XL, PO and PER in dependence of soil water content (SWC), and litter species diversity at the time point 4. The diagrams show standardized path coefficients and associated statistical significances in the structural equation modeling based on all time points. Significance level: *** P0.001, ** P0.01, * P0.05, (*) P0.1.