The Vulnerable Skin of the Earth

How do sensitive organisms manage to survive in the earth's dry deserts and icy wastes? Which part do they play in these ecosystems? Scientists want to find these answers. By the use of specially developed microtechnology they prove that biological soil crusts protect desert soils from erosion, they photosynthesize, bind carbon dioxide, and prevent desertification. In the earth's arid regions, 50 million km² of soils and rock are covered by biological soil crusts.

Heribert Schöller

Director: Heribert Schöller

Heribert Schöller studied biology and began his career in research and in lecturing, part of the time in the Natural History Museum Senckenberg in Frankfurt a. M. In 1999 he went to Hessischen Rundfunk and worked there as author and cameraman for a wildlife and environmental magazine. From 2002 he completed the series "On the Tracks of Nature". In 2004 he founded corvusFilm, and has since produced wildlife and scientific films above all for ARTE, as well as internationally for Studio Hamburg. At present he is working on "The Vulnerable Skin of the Earth", as part of an international research project on climatic changes in the arid regions of the earth.

Germany
2010
52 Min.
German
7
Director: Heribert Schöller
Script: Heribert Schöller
Cinematography: Heribert Schöller
Editing: Chiara Monte, Martin Böttner
Music: Hannes Gill
Narrator: Josef Tratnik
Editor: Jutta Hartmann(HR)
Nominations: Best Science Film 2011