Catenary sequence of vegetation in tropical peat swamp forests have been attributed by reduce in nutrient availability along the gradient of peat depth. However, this is an ecological process that explains community assemblage. An understanding of the phylogenetic structure of ecological communities makes us infer the relative importance of different ecological processes such as biotic and abiotic filtering structuring the sequential vegetation. Our previous study that investigated phylogenetic structure of peat swamp forest in Central Kalimantan revealed that the phylogenetic diversity decrease as peat depth increases. This indicates not only environmental filtering but also biotic filtering such as competitive exclusion should contribute to catenary sequence of the vegetation. On the other hand, catenary sequence of vegetation can be observed from coast to inland as well. This gradient vertical to shoreline also affects phylogenetic diversity of tropical peat swamp forests in terms of quality of substrate and spatial proximity to non-swamp habitats, as substrates and nearby vegetation changes. In the presentation, we will show the result of analyses on phylogenetic structure of peat swamp communities from Borneo, Kalimantan and Sumatra to clarify the importance of the ecological processes on community assemblage.