Spatial point patterns and species association analysis of dominant species distribution in Maoershan Mountain, Guangxi of southern China.

Cyclobalanopsis stewardiana, Ilex ficoidea and C. glauca were three dominant species relatively broadly distributed in Maoershan Mountain, Guangxi of southern China. At different altitudes, size distribution of three species individuals showed a unimodal type, and the peak of three species DBH all centralized at 4-8 cm class. DBH structures showed that three species had enough junior individuals, meaning they will continuously play dominant role in community for a long time. Based on continuous sampling data for Lfunction analyses, comparing spatial distribution and species association of three species, we found that three species were significantly aggregated and distributed on several scales, and only a few scales showed random and regular distributions. Associations among three species all showed an independent distribution pattern within 50 m in two plots. C.stewardiana and C. glauca belong to congeneric species and they show a positive correlation on small scales in both plots.