Striking picture of an orange-tailed damselfly peering via leaf wins pictures competitors

The winners of this yr’s BMC Ecology and Evolution and BMC Zoology image competition have been introduced.

Top spot has been awarded to Sritam Kumar Sethy, a scholar at Berhampur University, Odisha, India, for his or her picture ‘Window to the Wetlands’, which options an orange-tailed marsh dart damselfly peering via a gap in a leaf.

The gorgeous picture “offers a glimpse into the often-overlooked world of freshwater biodiversity,” says Kumar Sethy.

This yr’s competitors is its third iteration, following on from the BMC Ecology and Evolution picture competitors (2021-2023) and the BMC Ecology picture competitors (2013-2020). 

The competitors is open to people affiliated with a analysis establishment and dealing in ecology, evolutionary biology, palaeontology or zoology. It offers them a possibility to showcase their analysis in a inventive manner and discover the intersection between artwork and science.

Here are all of the successful and runner-up images.

Overall winner

Damselflies are extensively recognised as indicators of wholesome ecosystems. But as a result of they’re reliant on each aquatic and terrestrial habitats (nymphs reside fully underwater, whereas adults reside within the air and on land close to water), they’re particularly delicate to air pollution, habitat loss and local weather change.

“It is hard not to smile at this beautifully composed and vivid image, in which the damselfly seems to display a remarkable sense of character and presence,” says David Ferrier, member of the BMC Ecology and Evolution Senior Editorial Board.

Overall runner-up

The picture exhibits two college students working within the discipline on a wet evening close to Portland, Oregon, USA, attaching a radio transmitter to a northern red-legged frog (Rana aurora).

Relationships in Nature winner

Victor Huertas captured a snapshot of two male big Australian cuttlefish (Ascarosepion agama) competing for a feminine in the course of the species’ annual spawning aggregation in South Australia’s Upper Spencer Gulf.

Relationships in Nature runner-up

This picture captures friarbirds (Philemon corniculatus) focusing on a brown goshawk (Tachyspiza fasciata) in Australia.

Research in Action winner

This picture exhibits undergraduate college students investigating the native fish inhabitants underneath a moonlit sky within the shallow coastal waters of New Brunswick, Canada.

Research in Action runner-up

In this {photograph}, researchers are monitoring aquatic life within the Everglades National Park, Florida, as a part of a long-term effort to evaluate the progress of the ecosystem restoration venture at present underway.

Protecting Our Planet winner

This drone shot of Long Sault Parkway on the western finish of the St. Lawrence Seaway, which connects Eastern Canada and the Northern United States, illustrates the environmental disruption brought on by previous dam development (the islands had been fashioned from submerged hilltops following the development of the Moses-Saunders Power Dam within the Fifties) – in addition to the ecological restoration that may comply with conservation efforts. Protected from additional improvement, the realm now serves as an essential hen sanctuary.

Protecting our Planet runner-up

This picture celebrates community-led conservation efforts alongside India’s west coast by displaying an olive ridley sea turtle hatchling (Lepidochelys olivacea) escorted to the ocean by locals.

Highly recommended photos

Find out extra concerning the BMC Ecology and Evolution and BMC Zoology image competition.