Studying community phylogenies along elevation gradients can inform us about the influences of environmental conditions on the structuring communities, and therefore allow predictions on how future environmental changes may affect them. The aim of the work was to evaluate the processes that govern tree communities along an altitudinal gradient in an upper montane Atlantic Forest in the Mantiqueira Range, southeastern Brazil. To do so, we analyzed the phylogenetic structure of angiosperm tree communities in four elevations (ranging from 1500 to 2100 m) and verified if it varies significantly with altitude. We also analyzed the phylogenetic beta diversity among local angiosperm tree communities along the altitudinal gradient. Further, we evaluated the soil and temperature influences over these communities. The results showed tendency of increasing phylogenetic clustering with the elevation. We also verified that the phylogenetic lineages of the tree communities are replaced along the altitudinal gradient influenced by changes in temperature and soil, indicating phylogenetic niche conservatism. This suggest that these communities could move to higher altitudes in a global warming scenario, and that would change their species composition and abundance due to changes in soil along the altitudinal gradient. Thus, the highest areas would be threatened as they would not have higher altitude locations to migrate to. In addition, phylogenetic lineages which only occur, or occur in their large majority, at highest altitudes (i.e., Cunoniaceae and Winteraceae) would be locally extinct by the current (or future) climatic scenario.

沿着海拔梯度研究群落系统发育可以使我们了解环境条件对结构群落的影响，因此可以预测未来的环境变化如何影响它们。这项工作的目的是评估在巴西东南部Mantiqueira山脉的山区高山森林中沿海拔梯度控制树木群落的过程。为此，我们分析了四个海拔高度（从1500到2100 m）的被子植物群落的系统发育结构，并验证了其是否随海拔高度显着变化。我们还分析了沿海拔梯度的局部被子植物群落之间的系统发生β多样性。此外，我们评估了土壤和温度对这些社区的影响。结果表明，随着海拔的升高，系统发生聚类的趋势增强。我们还验证了树木群落的系统谱系沿温度和土壤变化影响的海拔梯度被替换，表明系统发育的生态位保守性。这表明，在全球变暖的情况下，这些群落可能会迁移到更高的高度，并且由于沿海拔梯度的土壤变化，这将改变它们的物种组成和丰度。因此，最高的区域将受到威胁，因为它们将没有更高的海拔位置要迁移到。另外，仅在最高海拔（例如，库纳科和冬科）出现或大部分发生的系统发育谱系将因当前（或未来）气候情景而局部灭绝。