“…In this work, it is hypothesized that both environmental heterogeneity and geographic distance determine the floristic and structural patterns of Asteraceae in the Espinhaço Range. Similar studies have been carried out in tropical forests (Chave, ; Moser et al., ; Rezende, Eisenlohr, Vibrans & Oliveira‐Filho, ; Zuquim et al., ), and a few studies have even measured the relative influence of environment and space on the assembly of plant communities of Brazilian non‐forest ecosystems (Menezes, Müller & Overbeck, ), such as rupestrian grasslands. In dystrophic (low nutrient content) soils of rupestrian grasslands in the Espinhaço Range, it is also hypothesized that plant communities will be structured by a hierarchy of environmental factors, as observed in other tropical systems (Pansonato, Costa, Castilho, Carvalho & Zuquim, ).…”