Good day everyone. I am Dirk Schmeller. I was born at a time when only half as many people as now lived on Earth. I have seen that Earth changing during my lifetime. That made me eager to learn why and what that change does to the animals and plants I was so fascinated of already as a young boy. I learned about grasshoppers during my master thesis, about hybridogenetic waterfrogs during my PhD, and have been doing research in Finland, Taiwan, Germany, France and other countries around the world. Now, I am a AXA-professor for functional mountain ecology. Despite my long history in research, I learn something new every day. New facts, fascinating facts, exciting facts. That is what science is driven by. Facts. Not all of them essential. On my channel, I will present some of the facts and knowledge we have about mountains, their biodiversity, their importance for human society and for life on Earth.