Climatic niches among the species of this group differ notably (Figs 74–76). Polylepistarapacana grows under the coldest conditions (mean of 2.6 °C Mean Annual Temperature, MAT); whereas other species, such P.crista-galli (11.2 °C), P.incanoides (11.0 °C), P.besseri (10.8 °C) and P.nana (10.4 °C), grow under noticeably higher temperatures. These differences of up to 7.6 °C correspond to about 1400 m elevation. Regarding Mean Annual Precipitation (MAP), P.lanata grows under the most humid conditions (mean of 1547 mm MAP), followed by P.triacontandra (1057 mm). In contrast, species growing in drier areas are P.tarapacana (180 mm MAP), P.rugulosa (210 mm) and P.tomentella (412 mm).

Focussing on the individual subsections, the five species of subsect. Besseria are allopatric and mostly have rather similar climatic niches, although most species have some level of climatic differentiation; only P.besseri and P.crista-galli are identical. Subsection Racemosae includes seven allopatric species that again mostly differ in either MAP or MAT, partly quite considerably. For example, Polylepislanata and P.triacontandra occur close to each other in Bolivia, but have ecological differences, with P.triacontandra growing under relatively colder and more humid conditions. Additionally, P.lanata and P.sacra, long thought to be the same species (Simpson 1979; Mendoza and Cano 2012), have distinct climatic niches, with P.lanata growing under much warmer and humid conditions than P.sacra. Within this subsection, only P.acomayensis and P.pacensis have identical climatic niches. Finally, in subsect. Incanaee, all species are climatically distinct. For instance, Polylepisincanoides, P.nana and P.tomentella all occur in Bolivia, but P.tomentella grows under comparatively cold and dry conditions, P.incanoides under warm and humid ones and P.nana under warm and dry ones.