Niches of rare and endangered herbage species in forest vegetations of Beijing mountainous region
北京山区森林植被中珍稀濒危草本植物生态位

Based on the investigation of 38 forest plots in Beijing mountainous region, the niche breadth and overlap of seven rare and endangered herbage plants Glycine soja, Cypripedium macranthum, Malaxis monophyllos, Herminium monorchis, Paeonia obovata, Platanthera chlorantha and Liparis japonica were calculated and analyzed. The results showed that G. soja had a wider niche breadth (0.297), while C. macranthum, M. monophyllos and H. monorchis belonging to Orchidaceae had a narrower one, indicating that rare and endangered Orchidaceae plants had a less distribution in Beijing mountainous region, and only distributed in several types of forest vegetation communities. Due to the lack of suitable habits, these herbage species were in dire need of prior conservation. In general, the species with wide niche breadth had stronger capability of using resources, and the niche overlaps between them and other species were larger, with the same phenomena observed among the species with similar environmental requirements.