The long-term monitoring project has the aim of recording the vegetational development in subalpine to alpine altitudes in aspects on the effect of grazing, grazing exclusion and pedogenesis. In the year 2000 permanent plots were established along an altitudinal gradient from 1960 m to 2790 m a.s.l. Besides the altitudinal gradient, the sites differ in locations and communities: subalpine area, timberline area, lower alpine area, upper alpine area and bogs. Also the effect of grazing was measured due to established fences at each site to exclude grazers (domestic herbivores).