Species assembly is shaped by the interactions among ecological and evolutionary processes. By integrating the niche conservatism and evolutionary history, the tropical niche conservatism hypothesis (TCH) has clarified species latitudinal diversity gradient at large scales. One of the TCH’s central predictions, though lacking empirical evidence, implies that positive relationship between clade age and temperature along the altitudinal gradient should also be observed. Thus, we aim to test this prediction using a data set derived from forest communities of Mt. Taibai, central China.

We systematically established 49 plots (20 m × 30 m) along the north slope on Mt. Taibai, China. We calculated the mean family age (MFA) and its corresponding standardized values through rarefication and standardization, for woody and herbaceous angiosperm assemblages in each community respectively. Generalized linear models with Akaike weight and correlation analysis was used to evaluate the relationships between MFA with seven environmental predictors.

For both woody and herbaceous assemblages, the standardized MFA showed significant decreasing tendencies along the elevational gradient and positive associations with minimum temperature (measured as mean temperature of the coldest month). Additionally, minimum temperature is the dominant predictor compared with the others in the regression models. These findings are generally consistent with the age-related predictions of the TCH, but are contrary to the results of related studies conducted in tropical regions.