Variations in the abiotic factors strongly influence the development of different types of plant communities.

Community processes (growth, turnover, successional changes) in alpine zones are rather slow due to the cold climate.

Community structure and composition in the alpine environment are usually less complex than in many lowland ecosystems. On the other hand, community composition often changes over short distances due to small-scale heterogeneity in topography and microsites.

With increasing altitude and environmental harshness the importance of competition as a process affecting community development decreases, while that of facilitation increases.

Recruitment by seed is often severely limited and so propagation by clonal growth and long persistence of individuals are the basis for sustaining the populations for many species.