Capturing Ecology 2022 winners show animals in a changing world.
Every year, the British Ecological Society highlights the intersection of science and art with its Capturing Ecology photo competition.
showcase animals in their natural habitats, and their often fraught interactions with humans and other species.
A hermit crab in Indonesia is seen here with a bottle cap for a shell. Plastic is a major source of terrestrial and marine pollution worldwide, comprising more than three-fourths of the pollution in Jakarta’s rivers.
The critically endangered Gold-striped salamander is seen here among its pearl-like eggs. The salamanders, found only on the Iberian Peninsula, live near freshwater streams, making them vulnerable to ecosystem changes.
Javier Lobon-Rovira/British Ecological Society
The smooth-helmeted iguana seen here is an opportunistic feeder, known to sit still and wait for prey for extremely long periods of time. They move so little, fungi and at least one plant have been found growing on them.
This image shows the aftermath of a battle between fire ants and a house gecko in Florida. Both species are invasive in the U.S., disrupting local ecosystems by preying on native animals.
This photo shows a common murre being carried away by a bald eagle in Cannon Beach, Oregon. Bald eagle populations have flourished in the Pacific Northwest in recent years, driving murres to hide their nests under vegetation, rather than on the rocky cliffs where they typically build them.
Photographer Peter Hudson says it took this leopard four attempts to catch a Steenbok, who rely on speed and stealth to evade predators, sometimes hiding in aardvark burrows. Leopards are nocturnal hunters, but this one was forced into a daylight hunt to feed its cubs.
A Helena’s treefrog peers out form the darkness in Peru’s Tambopata province. Gold mining currently threatens the region’s natural environment, making the golden eyes of the frog glowing in the dark a poignant sight.
The full Capturing Ecology exhibition, including student winners and runners-up for each category, is available on the British Ecological Society website.