Abstract: Slope position and altitude are the integrative reflections of meteorological and site factors. Slope position affects the spatial distribution of environmental factors, and with the altitude together, builds species existent small habitats and shapes the community abundance patterns. In this paper, the species abundance patterns in tree layer, shrub layer, and herb layer of Quercus wutaishanica community at the upper, middle, and lower slopes along an altitude gradient in Dongling Mountain of Beijing were studied, based on five niche models, i.e., broken stick model (BSM), niche preemption model (NPM), overlapping niche model (ONM), random assortment model (RAM), and dominance preemption model (DPM). Among the five models, the models that could well describe the species abundance pattern in the tree layer from low altitude to high altitude and from lower slope to upper slope were the RAM or NPM to DPM. The NPM could best simulate the species abundance pattern in shrub layer, followed by BSM, and RAM. The DPM could also well simulate the species abundance pattern in shrub layer at high altitude. The BSM could be the first choice to simulate the species abundance pattern in herb layer, whereas the NPM and ONM could be the second and third choice. Covariance analysis suggested that both slope position and altitude had no significant effects on the species abundance patterns of Quercus wutaishanica community in the study area.

Key words: Pyricularia grisea, Infection process, Ecological factor