May 5, 2024

From Zombie-Ant Fungi to Hadrosauroid Embryos: Stunning Winners of BMC Ecology and Evolution Image Competition

Total winner. An invasive orange pore fungi postures unknown environmental effects for Australian communities. Credit: Cornelia Sattler
Cornelia Sattlers picture of the intrusive orange pore fungus won the BMC Ecology and Evolution image competition. The competitors celebrates natures marvels across various classifications, blending art and science.
A fascinating image of the invasive orange pore fungus (Favolaschia calocera), which highlights the potential risks the species may posture to Australian environments, has won the third BMC Ecology and Evolution image competitors. The competitors showcases the wonder of the natural world– both previous and present– and commemorates those working to understand it.
The orange pore fungus was first observed in Madagascar but is now discovered throughout the world. Previous research has reported that intrusive species, such as the European bunny, root rot fungi, and feral pigs, threaten 82% of Australian species at threat of termination.

Cornelia Sattler said: “Despite its innocent and beautiful appearance, the orange pore fungi is an invasive types that displaces other fungis and is spreading throughout the Australian jungle. It is important to closely monitor this fungus, whose spores are often transported by humans, in order to safeguard the biodiversity of Australia.”.
Senior Editorial Board Member Arne Traulsen recommended the entry, saying: “Cornelia Sattlers image permits us to peek into the world of fungi, organisms that are yet underappreciated and fascinating and understudied.”.
Extra Award-Winning Entries.
Beyond the primary reward, the competitors acknowledged victors and runners-up in four distinct classifications: Research in Action, Protecting our Planet, Plants and Fungi, and Palaeoecology.
Research in action: finest in classification. Exploring the deep. Scientists from the Hoey Reef Ecology Lab deploy an undersea ROV at Diamond Reef within the Coral Sea Marine Park. Credit: Victor Huertas.
Victor Huertas from James Cook University, Australia took the winning image for the Research in Action category. The photo portrays the implementation of an underwater from another location operated car at Coral Sea Marine Park, Australia. The device is utilized to survey oceans at depths that are beyond the reach of divers and has actually been utilized to find brand-new types in reefs and expand the known geographic series of multiple fish types.
Research study in action: runner-up. Researchers from the University of Glasgows Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme perform a necropsy of a stranded humpback whale. Credit: Submitted by Professor Paul Thompson, picture caught by James Bunyan from Tracks Ecology.
Senior Editorial Board Member Luke Jacobus said: “This photo records the essence of environmental research study. It showcases sharp imaging and excellent storytelling and welcomes us to be curious about our vibrant world.”.
Securing our planet: finest in classification. Sustainable beekeeping for chimpanzees. Credit: Roberto García-Roa.
The Protecting our Planet classification winner was recorded by Roberto García-Roa from the University of Lund, Sweden, and features a sustainable beekeeping job released by the Chimpanzee Conservation Center in Guinea. The task aims to fight logging by motivating residents to cultivate their own honey. A portion of the earnings produced by the job go towards chimpanzee preservation activities.
Safeguarding our world: runner-up. Safeguarding future generations of reef sharks. A scientist launches a new-born blacktip reef shark (Carcharhinus melanopterus) in Moorea, French Polynesia. Credit: Victor Huertas.
Senior Editorial Board Member Josef Settele said: “This image shows how extremely various aspects of wildlife preservation can be integrated into win-win scenario that assists all at once safeguard our world and empower regional communities.”.
Plants and fungi: best in classification. A mycoparasitic fungi parasitizing the fruiting body of a zombie-ant fungi. Credit: João Araújo.
The Plants and Fungi category winner illustrates a fungus parasitizing the fruiting body of a zombie-ant fungi– a fungus that can compel infected ants to migrate to areas that are more beneficial for its development– and was taken by João Araújo from the New York Botanical Garden, New York, USA.
Fungi and plants: runner-up. A spider seemingly beat by a parasitic fungi.
João Araújo stated: “Zombie-ant fungis are discovered in forests all over the world, nevertheless, the forests they populate are also shown fungis that can parasitize, consume, and even castrate them. Researchers have only just recently began to brochure and describe these fascinating fungi that can eliminate other fungi.”.
Paleoecology: best in classification. A peek inside a hadrosaur egg. Credit: Submitted by Jordan Mallon. Restoration by Wenyu Ren.
The Paleoecology category winner was sent by Jordan Mallon from the Canadian Museum of Nature, Canada, and was produced by Wenyu Ren from Beijing, China. The image portrays an embryonic hadrosauroid– a dinosaur with a duck-like beak– developing within an egg from Chinas Upper Cretaceous red beds, which date to between 72 and 66 million years ago.
Paleoecology: runner-up. Credit: Dr. Jasmina Wiemann.
Jordan Mallon stated: “The fairly little size of the egg and the unspecialized nature of the dinosaur embryo developing within it suggests that the earliest hadrosaurs were born powerless and immature. Over time, hadrosaurs started to lay larger eggs, showing that their young may have been born at more advanced phases of development and needed less adult care than earlier hadrosaurs.”.
Commemorating the Intersection of Art and Science.
Now in its third year, the BMC Ecology and Evolution Image Competition was created to offer ecologists, evolutionary biologists, and paleontologists the opportunity to use their creativity to celebrate their research study and the intersection in between art and science. The winning images are selected by the Editor of BMC Ecology and Evolution and senior members of the journals editorial board.
Editor Jennifer Harman stated: “Judging the numerous remarkable images submitted to this years competitors was a gratifying and difficult experience. The winning images were picked by our senior Editorial Board Members as much for the scientific stories behind them as for their creative qualities.

An invasive orange pore fungus postures unknown eco-friendly repercussions for Australian communities. The orange pore fungus was very first observed in Madagascar but is now found throughout the world. Previous research study has reported that intrusive species, such as the European bunny, root rot fungi, and feral pigs, threaten 82% of Australian species at risk of extinction. Fungi and plants: finest in category. A mycoparasitic fungi parasitizing the fruiting body of a zombie-ant fungi.