  In this paper, we present maximal and area integral characterizations of
Bergman spaces in the unit ball of $\mathbb{C}^n.$ The characterizations are in
terms of maximal functions and area integral functions on Bergman balls
involving the radial derivative, the complex gradient, and the invariant
gradient. As an application, we obtain new maximal and area integral
characterizations of Besov spaces. Moreover, we give an atomic decomposition of
real-variable type with respect to Carleson tubes for Bergman spaces.
