Chloroplasts of many alpine plants have the ability to form marked, stroma-filled protrusions that do not contain thylakoids. Effects of temperature and light intensity on the frequency of chloroplasts with such protrusions in leaf mesophyll cells of nine different alpine plant species (Carex curvula All., Leontodon helveticus Merat., Oxyria digyna (L.) Hill., Poa alpina L. ssp. vivipara, Polygonum viviparum L., Ranunculus glacialis L., Ranunculus alpestris L., Silene acaulis L. and Soldanella pusilla Baumg.) covering seven different families were studied. Leaves were exposed to either darkness and a stepwise increase in temperature (10-38 degrees C) or to different light intensities (500 and 2000 micromol photons m(-2) s(-1)) and a constant temperature of 10 or 30 degrees C in a special temperature-regulated chamber. A chloroplast protrusions index characterising the relative proportion of chloroplasts with protrusions was defined. Seven of the nine species showed a significant increase in chloroplast protrusions when temperature was elevated to over 20 degrees C. In contrast, the light level did not generally affect the abundance of chloroplasts with protrusions. Chloroplast protrusions lead to a dynamic enlargement of the chloroplast surface area. They do not appear to be directly connected to a distinct photosystem II (PSII) (F(v)/F(m)) status and thus seem to be involved in secondary, not primary, photosynthetic processes.