Ongoing encroachment is driving recent alpine shrubline dynamics globally, but the role of shrub-shrub interactions in shaping shrublines and their relationships with stem density changes remain poorly understood. Here, the size and age of shrubs from 26 Salix shrubline populations along a 900-km latitudinal gradient (30°–38° N) were measured and mapped across the eastern Tibetan Plateau. Point pattern analyses were used to quantify the spatial distribution patterns of juveniles and adults, and to assess spatial associations between them. Mean intensity of univariate and bivariate spatial patterns was related to biotic and abiotic variables. Bivariate mark correlation functions with a quantitative mark (shrub height, basal stem diameter, crown width) were also employed to investigate the spatial relationships between shrub traits of juveniles and adults. Structural equation models were used to explore the relationships among conspecific interactions, patterns, shrub traits and recruitment dynamics under climate change. Most shrublines showed clustered patterns, suggesting the existence of conspecific facilitation. Clustered patterns of juveniles and conspecific interactions (potentially facilitation) tended to intensify with increasing soil moisture stress. Summer warming before 2010 triggered positive effects on population interactions and spatial patterns via increased shrub recruitment. However, summer warming after 2010 triggered negative effects on interactions through reduced shrub recruitment. Therefore, shrub recruitment shifts under rapid climate change could impact spatial patterns, alter conspecific interactions and modify the direction and degree of shrublines responses to climate. These changes would have profound implications for the stability of alpine woody ecosystems.

持续的侵蚀正在推动全球高山灌木丛的动态变化，但灌木丛相互作用在塑造灌木丛中的作用及其与茎密度变化的关系仍然知之甚少。在这里，测量了青藏高原东部沿 900 公里纬度梯度（30°–38°N）的26 个柳灌木丛种群的灌木大小和年龄并绘制了地图。点模式分析用于量化青少年和成人的空间分布模式，并评估它们之间的空间关联。单变量和双变量空间模式的平均强度与生物和非生物变量相关。具有定量标记（灌木高度、基茎直径、冠宽）的双变量标记相关函数也被用来研究幼树和成树灌木性状之间的空间关系。使用结构方程模型来探索气候变化下同种相互作用、模式、灌木性状和补充动态之间的关系。大多数灌木丛表现出集群模式，表明存在同种促进作用。随着土壤水分胁迫的增加，幼体的聚集模式和同种相互作用（潜在的促进作用）往往会加剧。 2010 年之前的夏季变暖通过增加灌木补充对种群相互作用和空间格局产生了积极影响。然而，2010 年之后的夏季变暖通过减少灌木补充而对相互作用产生了负面影响。因此，气候快速变化下的灌木补充变化可能会影响空间格局，改变同种相互作用，并改变灌木丛对气候响应的方向和程度。这些变化将对高山木本生态系统的稳定性产生深远的影响。