Abstract: In order to explore the community diversity, carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus stoichiometric characteristics and environmental adaptation strategies of subalpine-alpine meadows along a continuous altitude gradient, the naturally distributed upland subalpine-alpine meadow communities on the southern slope of Wutai Mountain were evaluated. Nine sites were sampled in the altitude range of 2201-3011 m, and correlation analysis and partial redundancy analysis (pRDA) were used to analyze the community diversity, the carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus stoichiometric characteristics, and their relationships with environmental factors. The results showed that the average Patrick index, Shannon-Wiener index, Simpson index, and Pielou index were 11, 2.15, 0.87 and 0.93, respectively. With increasing altitude, Patrick index, Shannon-Wiener index, and Simpson index showed significant downwards trends, while the Pielou index did not change significantly. The TC, TN and TP contents of the subalpine-alpine meadow community were 461.19, 23.32 and 1.96 mg/g, respectively, and the average C∶N, C∶P and N∶P ratios of the subalpine-alpine meadow community were 19.99, 242.17 and 12.10, respectively. Compared with the results of the global scale and grassland ecosystem regional scale, the subalpine-alpine meadow community was characterized by a relatively stable TC, a higher TN and TP, and lower N∶P. The lower N∶P (<14) at the community level indicated that the plant growth in the subalpine-alpine meadow community was more limited by N. Along the altitudinal gradient, the TC content, C∶N ratio and C∶P ratio significantly increased, while the TN and TP contents significantly decreased with increasing elevation, and the N∶P ratio did not change significantly. In addition, the carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus stoichiometric characteristics among the subalpine-alpine meadow communities had some differences, which to some extent indicated the different adaptation strategies of mountain meadow communities to altitudinal habitats. The pRDA results showed that environmental factors (altitude and soil factors) explained 70.8% and 67.8% of the variation in the community diversity and in the carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus stoichiometric characteristics of the subalpine-alpine meadow community, respectively. Furthermore, altitude was more important than the soil factors in explaining the community diversity and the carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus stoichiometric characteristic variation. Our results indicate that altitude and soil factors have significant effects on the variation of the community diversity and the carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus stoichiometric characteristics in the subalpine-alpine meadow community of Wutai Mountain, and altitude is particularly prominent.