The differences of ecophysiological features in four levels of field capacity: 80%, 60%, 40% and 20%, respectively, regarded as well watered, mild, moderate and severe drought stress, were studied using Sabina przewalskii and Picea crassifolia, two dominant species in the subalpine coniferous forest zone in the northeastern Tibetan Plateau, as objects. It is revealed that drought stress significantly decreases the folia relative water content(RWC), photosynthetic rate(Pn), stomatal conductance(G_s) and transpiration rate(E), and increases the foliar carbon stable isotope composition(δ¹³C), nitrogen use efficiency(NUE), instantaneous water use efficiency(WUE-i), content of malonaldehyde(MDA) and activity of superoxide dismutase(SOD) of S. przewalskii and P. crassifolia. Their distribution in biomass(i.e., root shoot ratio, R:S) are different, i. e., the R:S of P. crassifolia decreases gradually, inversely, the one of S. przewalskii increases gradually. However, there is significant divergence to drought stress response in the two species. The effect of P. crassifolia is larger than that of S. przewalskii, illustrating that P. crassifolia is sensitive to water stress. All results indicate that S. przewalskii possesses more drought tolerance than P. crassifolia.