Abstract:Exploring the interspecific associations of main species and community stability of plant community will help to better understand the interspecific relationship and the mechanism of species coexistence, and thereby provide theoretical basis for the restoration and reconstruction of vegetation, biodiversity protection, and sustainable utilization of the plant community. However, little is known about the interspecific associations of main species and community stability of Myrsine seguinii community in Karst hills of Guilin, southwestern China. To investigate the interspecific associations of main species and community stability of M. seguinii community, a total of 30 plots were set up and studied by using a series of quantitative analysis methods including the variance ratio(VR), Chi-square test (χ2 test), Pearson's correlation coefficient test, Spearman's rank correlation coefficient test, and M. Godron stability analysis. The results showed that: (1) the overall interspecific associations among the main species in the tree layer, shrub layer and herb layer of the community showed significantly negative associations. (2) The results of the Chi-square test indicated that there was no significant association among most species pairs in each vertical layer, reflecting a weak association among the various species pairs, and most of the species showed an independent distribution pattern. (3) Pearson's correlation coefficient and Spearman's rank correlation tests showed that most species pairs in each vertical level were not significantly correlated, and the correlation among species was weak. (4) M. Godron stability analysis indicated that the ratios of cumulative inverse of species number to the cumulated relative frequency ratios of species in tree layer, shrub layer, herb layer and the whole community were 27.93/72.07, 30.40/69.60, 29.05/70.95 and 27.52/72.48, respectively, distinctly different from the stability point (20/80), indicating that the whole community and each vertical layer of the community were in an unstable state. These findings showed that the community was at the early stage of succession, with loose interspecific association and independent species distribution pattern. Therefore, the dominantly native species with similar resource utilization patterns, similar biological and ecological characteristics and similar habitat requirements should be planted together in the process of vegetation restoration and reconstruction in Karst areas. In addition, appropriate human management measures could be adopted to optimize interspecific relationships to improve community stability.