Sky islands strand endemic species on cool mountain tops above desert seas
In ranges like the Madrean sky islands, woodlands and meadows sit as cool habitat islands atop peaks separated by hot desert valleys that many montane species cannot cross.
Each summit holds slightly different endemic insects, plants, or vertebrates that diverged after climates warmed and lowland bridges vanished. Warming today shrinks those summit islands further upslope.
Mountains can be archipelagos without an ocean. Sky islands show how elevation alone invents isolation, endemism, and extinction risk on a single dry continent.
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