Home
DONATE - ECOLOGY THE NEXT GENERATION

Capturing Ecology 2022

The incredible winning images from our 2022 Photographic Competition: Capturing Ecology

  • Clockwise from top left. Overall Runner Up: Leopard Surprise! Peter Hudson; Category Winner: A New Plastic Home, Andreas Eich; Student Category Winner: Morning Dew, Francesca Martelli; Overall Winner: A light in the shadows, Roberto Garcia Roa.
  • The glowing golden eyes of Helena
    Overall Winner: A Light in the Shadows, Roberto García Roa.
  • Water dropplets are sent flying on a dewy morning in grasslands scattered with white flowers, as a mother leopard reaches out with both front limbs for a Steenbok nearly running on its side as it makes sharp desperate manovers to escape the leopards pursuit.
    Overal Runner Up: Leopard Suprise!, Peter Hudson.
  • Four westurn gulls circle above and squark down at a bald eagle with its wings spread, trying to break away with its latest prey, a common murre, grasped witin its yellow tallons
    Student Winner: Takeout, Sam Eberhard.
  • A gold - striped salamander is nestled amongst a jumble of eggs, easily mistakable for a collection of pearls.
    Up Close and Personal Catagory Winner: Wild Pearls, Javier Lobon-Rovira.
  • Dropplets of dew rest on the large oval wings of a Damon Blue butterfly resting on a stalk with its purple petals about to emerge.
    Up Clost and Personal Student Winner: Morning Dew, Francesca Martelli.
  • The bright pink tips of this common daisy
    Highly Commended: Eternal beauty, Mathew Rees.
  • An army of fire ants climb over the pale peeling skin and glassy eye of a house gecko laying ontop of sandy rock.
    Dynamic Ecosystems Catagory Winners: Invasive Battle - Fire Fierce, Javier Lobon-Rovira.
  • Below the waters surface, thousands of black and white striped Convict Tangs congregate above a coral reef with a grey reef shark lurking in the background.
    Dynamic Ecosystems Student Winner: Danger Spawning, Emma Weschke.
  • A pale Round-tailed Horn Lizard is impaled, mouth agape, by the long green beak of a Loggerhead Shrike
    Individuals and Populations Student Winner: The shrike strikes again, Jennifer Holguin
  • Two critically endangered igaunas tumble together in the sand.
    Highly Commended: The Chase, Côme Denechaud.
  • Clinging to a thin branch, the red-eyed tree frog calls out for a mate illuminated in vivid colour against the dark black cover of night.
    Highly Commended: Calling Out into the Darkness, Sam J. England.
  • A terrestrial hermit crab wears its new shell, a faded yellow plastic bottle cap, in front of a postcard perfect idyllic beach scene overwhich the suns rays are shinning bright.
    People and Nature Catagory Winner: A New Plastic Home, Andreas Eich.
  • A turtle swims over a shallow reef while a group of tourists gather behind with their cameras at the ready.
    People and Nature Student Winner: Tourists in the Wild, Mackenzie Meier.
  • Mid courtship dance, two Sarus Crane
    Highly Commended: A Pair for Life, Subhashis Halder.
  • Black-legged kittiwakes cluster on the ledges of a house on the edge of the harbour.
    Highly Commended: Urban Kittiwates, Joshua Copping.
  • A female Bonelli
    Ecology in Action Catagory Winner: Bruma, Roberto Garcia Roa.
  • PhD student Ruth Smith crouches beside a 42kg male giant pangolin (Smutsia gigantea), the largest on record, after taking tissue samples and lfitting a GPS devide to relay the animals location. The researchers portable kit can be seen in the backround, including a air mask fitted to pangolin.
    Ecology in Action Student Winner: Studying the Most Trafficked Animal in the World
  • The waters surface splits the scene in two: above the water a small research vessel drifts through the seas, bellow two scuba divers install cages on the sandy sea bed surrounded by lumps of coral.
    Highly Commended: Underwater Research in Fiji, Andreas Eich.
  • A Horned Grebe calmly floats as the rising sunlight reflects of the waters surface. The bird and surrounding waters are coloured deep shades of blue, as the light glistens from behind.
    The Art of Ecology Catagory Winner: Bubble Bath, Alwin Hardenbol.
  • The glowing green lights of a swarm of fireflies created shines bright against the deep green grass of the forest floor.
    The Art of Ecology Student Winner: Diwali in the Forest, Naitik Patel.

The glowing golden eyes of a Helena’s Treefrog piercing through the darkness; the blissful calm of a bird floating on water; and the thrilling chase of a hungry mother leopard are among the winners of the British Ecological Society’s annual photography competition, ‘Capturing Ecology’.

This year’s winners tell a powerful story about the intricacies of nature, and our relationship with the natural world. From predator-prey dynamics on the earth, skies, and seas, to connections between people, wildlife, and the environments we share.

Captured by international ecologists and students, this year’s winning images and additional seven highly commended images celebrate the diversity of ecology, capturing flora and fauna from across the globe.

Read more about the winning images

Overall Winner: A light in the shadows, Roberto Garcia Roa, Lund University.

Overall Runner Up: Leopard Surprise! Peter Hudson, Department of Biology, Penn State University.

Overall Student Winner: Takeout, Sam Eberhard, University of California, Santa Cruz

Category 1 – Up Close and Personal

An image displaying the intricacy of nature using close-up or macro photography.

A gold - striped salamander is nestled amongst a jumble of eggs, easily mistakable for a collection of pearls.
Up Close and Personal Catagory Winner: Wild Pearls, Javier Lobon-Rovira.

Winner: Wild Pearls, Javier Lobon-Rovira, PhD student in the Doctoral Programme in Biodiversity, Genetics and Evolution (BIODIV) of the University of Porto and CIBIO-InBIO

Student Winner: Morning Dew, Francesca Martelli, Northumbria University.

Category 2 – Dynamic Ecosystems

Demonstrating interactions between different species within an ecosystem.

An army of fire ants climb over the pale peeling skin and glassy eye of a house gecko laying ontop of sandy rock.
Dynamic Ecosystems Catagory Winners: Invasive Battle - Fire Fierce, Javier Lobon-Rovira.

Winner: Invasive battle – fire fierce, Javier Lobon-Rovira, PhD student in the Doctoral Programme in Biodiversity, Genetics and Evolution (BIODIV) of the University of Porto and CIBIO-InBIO

Student Winner: Danger Spawning, Emma Weschke, University of Bristol

Category 3 – Individuals and Populations

A unique look at a species in its environment, either alone or as part of a population.

Winner: Night Guardian, Javier Lobon-Rovira, PhD student in the Doctoral Programme in Biodiversity, Genetics and Evolution (BIODIV) of the University of Porto and CIBIO-InBIO

Student Winner: The Shrike strikes again! Jennifer Holguin, The University of Texas at El Paso,

Category 4 – People and Nature

An interesting and original take on the relationships between people and nature.

A turtle swims over a shallow reef while a group of tourists gather behind with their cameras at the ready.
People and Nature Student Winner: Tourists in the Wild, Mackenzie Meier.

Winner: A New Plastic Home, Andreas Eich, No-Trash Triangle Initiative

Student Winner: Tourists in the Wild, Mackenzie Meier, University of Bristol

Category 5 – Ecology in Action

Showcasing the practice of ecology in action

PhD student Ruth Smith crouches beside a 42kg male giant pangolin (Smutsia gigantea), the largest on record, after taking tissue samples and lfitting a GPS devide to relay the animals location. The researchers portable kit can be seen in the backround, including a air mask fitted to pangolin.
Ecology in Action Student Winner: Studying the Most Trafficked Animal in the World

Winner: Bruma, Roberto Garcia Roa, Lund University

Student Winner: Studying the most trafficked animal in the world, Ruth Smith, Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre, University of Glasgow.

Category 6 – The Art of Ecology

A creative and original take on photography denoting ecology

A Horned Grebe calmly floats as the rising sunlight reflects of the waters surface. The bird and surrounding waters are coloured deep shades of blue, as the light glistens from behind.
The Art of Ecology Catagory Winner: Bubble Bath, Alwin Hardenbol.

Winner: Bubble Bath, Alwin Hardenbol, University of Eastern Finland.

Student Winner: Diwali in the forest, Naitik Patel, Wildlife Institute of India

Capturing Ecology Sponsored by Dryad
  1. Home
  2. Membership & Community
  3. Capturing Ecology
  4. Capturing Ecology 2022

We use cookies to make our website work properly and get anonymous information about how the site is used. See our terms & conditions. Click OK to accept, or Essential cookies if you don’t want us to have this anonymous data.