Abstract: To understand the mechanisms driving community succession in the secondary forest surrounding Qiandao Lake, Zhejiang, China, we investigated seasonal dynamics of the diurnal variations of net photosynthetic rates, their responses to both light and CO₂, and chlorophyll fluorescence parameters of four dominant plant species, i.e., Pinus massoniana, Castanopsis sclerophylla, Lithocarpus glaber and Cyclobalanopsis glauca in three natural light habitats, i.e., gap, edge and understory. In the three different light regimes, the daily mean values of the net photosynthetic rate (P_n) of P. massoniana and C. sclerophylla were significantly higher in summer than in the other seasons, while P_n of L. glaber and C. glauca was significantly higher in autumn than in the other seasons. In the forest gap and edge habitats, the annual mean values of the maximum net photosynthetic rate (A_max), the light saturation point (LSP), light compensation point (LCP) and dark respiration rate (R_d) of P. massoniana were the highest, followed by C. sclerophylla, and those of L. glaber and C. glauca were the lowest. In the understory habitat, the annual mean values of A_max and the apparent quantum yield (AQY) of C. glauca were the highest, followed by L. glaber and C. sclerophylla, and those of P. massoniana were the lowest. The annual mean values of the maximum rate of carboxylation (V_{c max}), maximum rate of electron transport (J_max) and triose phosphate use rate (TPU) of P. massoniana were significantly higher than those of the other three plant species in the three different light regimes. During the four seasons, the photochemical maximum efficiency of PSII (F_v/F_m) of P. massoniana and C. sclerophylla in the forest gap habitat was significantly higher, while those of L. glaber and C. glauca in the understory habitat were significantly higher than in the other light regimes. The maximum values of F_v/F_m of P. massoniana and C. sclerophylla were the highest in summer, and those of L. glaber and C. glauca were the highest in autumn. It suggested that P. massoniana and C. sclerophylla were more suitable for habitats with high light intensities such as forest gaps, and L. glaber and C. glauca were more suitable for habitats with low light intensities such as the understory. During ecological succession, P. massoniana and C. sclerophylla would withdraw from the community with the increasing canopy density, and L. glaber and C. glauca would be the dominant species in the climax community.