Abstract: An experiment was conducted to study the dead tree structure characteristics of dominant species populations in an evergreen broad-leaved forest with the dead trees of ten years and living trees form ten dominant species in a 5 hm² permanent plot in north slope of Baishanzu Mountain. In the age class of dead trees with inverted-J distribution, they were Cleyera pachyphylla, Sycopsis sinensis, Ilex editicostata, Cyclobalanopsis stewardiana and C.multinervis, Lithocarpus brevicaudatus and Fagus lucida, Schima superba. In the age class of dead trees with peak type distribution(with the peak in the second age class), they were Rhododendron latoucheae and Sorbus folgneri. The dead trees mainly concentrated in the top three age classes. The death ratio of every dominant species in the first age class was biggest, especially while the death ratio of Rhododendron latoucheae and Lithocarpus brevicaudatus in the first age class were relatively larger, being 47.61% and 50.00%, respectively. The death ratio of dominant species decreased with the increasing of age class, and it changed after the fourth age class. The average death ratio of Sorbus folgneri was biggest(30.42%), and that of Fagus lucida was smallest(13.70%). The dead trees were denser in the habitats where the living trees were denser. The density of dead trees of Sycopsis sinensis was higher in gully, and that of Cyclobalanopsis multinervis had little difference among four kinds of habitats. The dead trees of the other eight dominant species populations were denser in ridge and sparser in gully. The death ratios of Sorbus folgneri in steep slope(42.86%) and Ilex editicostata in gully(29.78%) were higher, while that of Fagus lucida in ridge(12.40%) was lowest.

Key words: evergreen broad-leaved forest, dominant species populations, dead tree, population structure, Baishanzu