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From zombie insects to a dinosaur embryo: The most amazing images of the natural world

BMC’s annual Ecology and Evolution Image Competition honors stunning photos that showcase the wonders of nature and the researchers working to understand them

Aug 21, 2023 - 14:57CEST

The winning image of the third annual 2023 BMC Ecology and Evolution Photo Contest, which is part of the prestigious 'Nature', captures an invasive orange-pored fungus ('Favolaschia valocera') growing on dead wood in an Australian rainforest. Despite its innocent appearance, photographer Cornelia Sattler stresses that this is an invasive species that displaces other fungi and is spreading through Australian ecosystems. As in previous editions, BMC has received an impressive collection of photographs from ecologists and evolutionary biologists from around the world. Cornelia Sattler (Nature inFocus Awards)

The winner of the Research in Action category shows researchers from the Hoey Reef Ecology Laboratory (Australia) as they deploy a remotely operated submarine at Diamond Reef within the Coral Sea Marine Park. The vehicle, equipped with multiple photo and video cameras, is a vital tool that allows research to be conducted at depths beyond the reach of divers. As a result, the team has discovered new species on reefs where they had not yet been documented.Victor Huertas (Nature inFocus Awards)

This finalist in the Research in Action category captures the Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme team performing a necropsy on a humpback whale that had beached itself and died. The probable cause of death was drowning after entanglement with an object. In all categories, the jury considered both the scientific story behind the photos and their artistic criteria.James Bunyan (Nature inFocus Awards)

The winning photograph in the Protecting our Planet category looks at how the Chimpanzee Conservation Center in Guinea is protecting nature and empowering local communities. Roberto Garcia-Roa, an evolutionary biologist and photographer affiliated with Lund University (Sweden), explains that the sustainable beekeeping project in the surrounding villages of Faranah is an inspiring solution to combat deforestation caused by the traditional collection of honey from wild bees. By growing their own honey, local people avoid cutting down trees and increase production.Roberto García-Roa (Nature inFocus Awards)

In this finalist in the Protecting our Planet category, Professor Joddie Rummer of James Cook University (Australia) is seen releasing a baby blacktip reef shark ('Carcharhinus melanopterus') in Moorea (French Polynesia). These animals usually live in shallow areas and are highly exposed to rising temperatures and decreasing oxygen. These conditions cause changes in the sharks' physiognomy, but the youngest sharks are exceptionally resilient, suggesting to scientists that they will be able to adapt to the warming of the ocean.Victor Huertas (Nature inFocus Awards)

João Araújo, a mycologist at the New York Botanical Garden, captured the winning image in the Plants and Fungi category. Zombie ant fungi ('Ophiocordyceps') can manipulate the behavior of their hosts and force them to migrate to sites that favor their growth. "These fungi also share forests with other lineages of mycoparasitic fungi that can parasitize, consume and even castrate them," the author points out, noting that research on these organisms has only been done very recently. Joao Araújo (Nature inFocus Awards)

In this finalist in the Plants and Fungi category, the photographer captures the rare site of a large insect being conquered by a parasitic fungus. Senior editorial board member Luke Jacobus notes that the image offers an opportunity to learn and improve our understanding of the complex interactions between organisms. Roberto García-Roa (Nature inFocus Awards)

The winning image in the Paleoecology category was submitted by Jordan Mallon from the Canadian Museum of Nature. It shows the work of a group of paleontologists during the Covid-19 pandemic, who discovered two hadrosaur eggs from the Late Cretaceous period of China. The eggs are between 66 million and 72 million years old. Mallon notes that their findings suggest that early hadrosaurs laid relatively small eggs and, over time, more evolved generations eventually laid eggs nearly four times larger. The image was taken by Wenyu Ren. Jordan Mallon (Nature inFocus Awards)

Jasmina Wiemann, a molecular paleobiologist at the Negaunee Integrative Research Center of the Field Museum of Natural History (USA), was a finalist in the Paleobiology category with this image of a dinosaur blood vessel surrounded by a preserved extracellular matrix containing the remains of cells approximately 150 million years old. The researcher explains that the preservation of soft tissues is due to the transformation of the original proteins, lipids and sugars that occurs during fossilization.Dr Jasmina Wiemann (Nature inFocus Awards)