A Humboldtian view of mountains

In the early 19th century, when naturalists were busy cataloging Earth's inventory and separating the living world into labeled units, a 32-year-old explorer at the flanks of Chimborazo mountain in Ecuador—higher than anybody else had climbed by that time—saw the fog clearing, revealing an arena of tropical mountain life. According to his notes, this was the moment when Alexander von Humboldt coined the central paradigm of his scientific legacy: Everything is connected. Removing one factor or item will inevitably affect others. For Humboldt, born 250 years ago, life on Earth was a web of interactions. He was seeking generality and came up with an ecological theory in modern terms—one that has never ceased to be relevant.