This study was conducted to investigate the characteristics of species spatial distribution patterns and their causes in subtropical forest communities in China. It also revealed the common patterns and individual differences in the spatial distribution patterns of species in different forest communities in the subtropics. The purpose of the study was to provide a scientific basis for biodiversity conservation and monitoring in the relevant regions. All species with diameter at breast height (DBH) ≥ 1 cm in six typical forest communities of 1 hm² at different latitudes in subtropical China were selected for the study. The L(t) function was used to count the spatial distribution pattern types of all the monitored species. In order to meet the statistical precision of the L(t) function, the plants with abundance ≥ 10 plants in each community were counted as species, and low abundance species with abundance < 10 plants and single individual species were analyzed as species groups for spatial point pattern analysis; and the correlation between species abundance, DBH and the metric of spatial aggregation degree, L₁₀, was analyzed. The results showed that:(1) The spatial distribution patterns of species with abundance ≥ 10 plants in communities at different latitudes in the subtropics showed similar scale-dependent patterns:the proportion of significantly aggregated distributions decreased with increasing scale, the magnitude of change in communities at different latitudes differed, and communities at lower latitudes were more stable. (2) The spatial distribution pattern of low abundance species groups in each community showed the scale effect of small-scale significantly aggregated distribution and large-scale random distribution, but the scale effect differed among communities at different latitudes; the spatial distribution pattern of individual species groups in each community was mainly random distribution. (3) There was a negative correlation between species abundance and spatial aggregation in communities at different latitudes, and the effect of species abundance on spatial aggregation diminished with latitude from high to low. (4) There was a negative correlation between DBH and the degree of spatial aggregation in communities at higher latitudes; the level of influence of DBH on the degree of spatial aggregation gradually decreased with higher to lower latitudes. The spatial distribution patterns of species in forest communities at different latitudes in the subtropics were further explored. It was concluded that habitat heterogeneity caused by latitudinal differences was the main factor influencing the process of spatial distribution patterns of community species, while forest type, dispersal limitation, density constraint and stochastic effects were secondary factors affecting the causes of spatial patterns of species and maintenance of diversity in each community.