This study, with Tianmu Mountain National Nature Reserve in Zhejiang Province selected as the study field, is aimed to reveal the impacts of different tourism disturbances on niche characteristics and interspecific associations of herbaceous plant communities along trails. To be specific, based on visitor volume (100%: high; 30%: low) and distance from the trail (0-10 m; 10-20 m), disturbance intensities were first classified before a total of 38 quadrats (disturbance zones) from 19 sample sites were surveyed. Then an analysis was conducted of the composition and species diversity of herbaceous plant communities, as well as niche characteristics, and interspecific associations of the dominant herb species ranked by importance value in each disturbed area. Results showed that: (a) the herbaceous plant communities along the trails of Tianmu Mountain are comprised of 89 species which belong to 65 genera and 38 families respectively; (b) visitor volume imposed significant impact on plant height (P < 0.05), trail proximity significantly affected plant coverage (P < 0.05) while species diversity showed no significant differences among disturbance zones (P > 0.05); (c) Cayratia albifolia exhibited the highest important value and niche width in quadrats with high visitor volume, whereas Ophiopogon japonicus played a dominant role in areas with low visitor volume; (d) the mean niche overlap among dominant species was relatively low across all disturbance zones (0.20-0.36) whereas overall interspecific relationships were predominantly negative (variance ratio, VR < 1.00), a finding which remained consistent across both χ² and Spearman's rank correlation tests; (e) most dominant species pairs showed weak interspecific associations and relatively independent niche distributions and (f) important value was significantly positively correlated with niche width (P < 0.001), and niche overlap was significantly positively correlated with the Spearman's rank correlation coefficient (P < 0.001). In conclusion, to further promote the efficiency of ecological management, it is suggested by the current study that devoted efforts should be made in the following aspects: (a) priority should be given to the targeted conservation of key dominant species; (b) non-engineering measures such as visitor guidance and the designation of buffer zones should be implemented; (c) moderate habitat heterogeneity should be maintained and (d) special attention should be paid to the mitigation of potential adverse impacts of intensified tourism disturbances on individual species and community structures.