In mountainous areas such as the Alps, species generally occur over distinct elevational ranges. There are the typical lowland, mid-elevation and alpine species. But species also differ in the width of the elevational range of occurrence. In an among-species comparison, we study the trade-offs involved with elevational and temperature adaptation, and generalist-specialist trade-offs. We address these questions by niche modelling and common garden experiments involving over 100 Brassicaceae species occurring in Switzerland.