High mountains can be considered as particularly appropriate environments to detect effects ofclimate change on natural biocoenoses in a global scale for the following reasons: Firstly, ecosystems at the l- temperature limits of plant life are generally thought to be especially sensitive to climate change 1] 2] 3]. An already ongoing upward shift of vascular plants at high summits in the Alps, determined by the Austrian IGBP-research 4] 5] 6] 7]...