When we try to explain today's species composition, the three mountain ranges that have already been described in the preceding lesson (European Alps, Ethiopian Highlands, Snowy Mountains of Australia) give us insight into three totally different colonization and evolutionary histories.
In introducing the histories of the three selected regions we will not present a complete list of possible mechanisms. Although scientists like to generalize and usually look for universally valid principles, we should not forget, that every mountain range and as well every ecosystem in the world has its own history.
Looking at the three selected regions we can find the following mechanisms/ histories:
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