This volume contains the main results of 20 years of fieldwork in the northwest Caucasus. More than 250 people were involved in a research programme based on scientific monitoring within the Teberde State Reserve in the Karachay-Cherkess Autonomous County. Political changes, long-term monitoring techniques, problems of funding expensive field research campaigns, lack of appropriate publishing capacities in Russia - there were many reasons for the delay of this publication. theless it can serve as a solid basis for further research and monitoring in alpine environments; in some respects, it has an exemplary character.
