The changes of co-possession of plant species between communities with altitudes on northern slope of Changbai Mountain

Twenty plots were investigated on northern slope of Changbai Mountain at an attitude interval of 100 m (from 700 to 2 600 m). The species co-possession between plant communities at different altitudes was analyzed by Jaccard index. The analytical results showed that the co-possession calculated according to species in different layers or all species between adjacent communities was higher than that between disjunct communities. The co-possessions between adjacent communities calculated by species in different layers had comparability and dissimilarity. If the two adjacent communities belong to different types of vegetation, then their co-possession was lower. The peak values and valley values of species co-possession between communities along elevation gradient just matched vegetation gradient patterns, and species subrogation of shrubs had more obvious rule on northern slope of Changbai Mountain. Co-possessions between communities with same altitude difference were much similar, and it decreased as the increase of elevation difference, which showed that species compositions in different layers of the communities were highly related.