High-altitude plants face extreme environments such as low temperature, low oxygen, low nutrient levels, and strong ultraviolet radiation, causing them to adopt complex adaptation mechanisms. Phenotypic variation is the core manifestation of ecological adaptation and evolution. Many plants have developed a series of adaptive strategies through long-term natural selection and evolution, enabling them to survive and reproduce under such harsh conditions. This article reviews the techniques and methods used in recent years to study the adaptive evolution of high-altitude plants, including transplantation techniques, genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics techniques, and their applications in high-altitude plant adaptive evolution. Transplantation technology focuses on phenotypic variation, which refers to natural variations in morphological, physiological, and biochemical characteristics, exploring their key roles in nutrient utilization, photosynthesis optimization, and stress-resistance protection. Multiple omics technologies, including genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics, have revealed genes, regulatory pathways, and metabolic networks associated with phenotypic variations at the genetic and molecular levels. At the same time, the limitations and deficiencies of current technologies used to study plant adaptation to high-altitude environments were discussed. In addition, we propose future improvements to existing technologies and advocate for the integration of different technologies at multiple levels to study the molecular mechanisms of plant adaptation to high-altitude environments, thus providing insights for future research in this field.

High-altitude regions offer outstanding opportunities for investigating the impacts of combined abiotic stresses on plant physiological processes given their significant differences in terms of the ecological environment in high-elevation areas, low anthropogenic disturbance, and obvious distribution characteristics of plants along altitudinal gradients. Therefore, plants in high-altitude areas can be used as good targets for exploring plant adaptations to abiotic stress under extreme conditions. Plants that thrive in high-altitude environments such as the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau endure extreme abiotic stresses, including low temperatures, high UV radiation, and nutrient-poor soils. This study explores their adaptation mechanisms via phenotypic variation analyses and multiomics approaches. Key findings highlight traits such as increased photosynthetic efficiency, robust antioxidant systems, and morphological modifications tailored to high-altitude conditions. These insights advance our understanding of plant evolution in harsh environments and inform strategies to increase stress resistance in crops.