Book excerpt: This volume contains a selection of 14 articles dealing with different aspects of biomonitoring and their relation to questions of global change. The first part concerns general aspects of biomonitoring. The second part gives examples of applied biomonitoring in Germany and Switzerland (changes in species composition, phenologies, vegetation restoration, changes in soil conditions, and heavy metal concentrations). The third part deals with climate-related monitoring studies of arctic-alpine and temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere (mountain peaks and timberline ecotones of the Alps, spread of exotic evergreen broad-leaved plants, phytomass and carbon balance in Svalbard).