Abstract: Two common formulas(Shannon-Wiener index and the reciprocal of Simpson index) were used to calculate the niche breadths among 15 populations of the arborous layer of the secondary forest community in Maofengshan.The niche breadths of most populations were narrow,while few populations were wide,which reflected a simpler community structure.The niche overlaps of 15 main populations were calculated using the niche similarity proportion,which revealed the inter-population niche overlaps and similarities using resources were not higher and the secondary community stayed in a stage of succession.The relationship between the niche overlap and breadth was not obviously correlated.