Abstract:The difference of ecophysiological and ecological response of community coexisting species to environmental is the important factor of community succession, of which, reactive oxygen scavenging is an important aspect of ecophysiology response. This paper takes on 10 kinds of common abandoned coexisting species in the Loess Plateau as study object, Ten coexisting species include Heteropappus hispidus, Artemisia scoparia, Artemisia sacrorum, Artemisia giraldii, Oxytropis glabra, Lespedeza dahurica, Bothriochloa ischaemum, Agropyron cristatum, Cleistogenes chinensis and Cleistogenes songorica. We determines the growth performance of individuals and populations, the main active oxygen removal indicators in the three months (August, September and October) of the growing season under different water treatment conditions (suitable water, moderate and severe stress). The measured growth performance indicators are individual plant height, biomass and population survival rate, active oxygen quenching indicators contain carotenoid content, superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity and glutathione (GSH) content. In this paper, the response differences and their interrelation of community coexisting species to water treatment on ecological suitability and reactive oxygen scavenger index are calculated and analyzed. The variation trend of the above indicators in succession ecological position is also demonstrated. The results show: (1) with the increase of water stress degree, the fitness of Artemisia scoparia in the succession early stage decreased, while the late growth of Bothriochloa ischaemum increased. (2) GSH and carotenoid enhanced with the water stress degree, both contents increased significantly. (3) There are prominent varietals diversities between carotenoids content, SOD activity and GSH content. Among them, the carotenoid content of Lespedeza dahurica, the SOD activity of Oxytropis glabra, the SOD activity and GSH content of Cleistogenes chinensis, and the carotenoid content and GSH content of Cleistogenes songorica were relatively high. Besides, the growth season variation of the above three indicators was also relatively obvious, the carotenoid and GSH contents in August were relatively high, while the GSH content and SOD activity in October were relatively high. (4) In the successional ecological position, ten coexisting species had relatively low levels of fitness and carotenoid content in the previous succession sequence, while the postsuccessive species were relatively higher, which indicates that the plants in the later stage of succession are more droughttolerant.