The Ecological Society of Australia has revealed the winners of its 2019 Ecology in Action photography competition, which captures some of Australia’s most stunning creatures and habitats. Let's take a look.
Photographer Alex Pike was the overall winner with this entry in the Animals sub-category. The shot captures an endangered southern hairy crayfish, which can only be found along a 50-km stretch of stream in the Illawarra Range of mountains in New South Wales.
Overall runner-up was Marcia Riederer with a shot of a ghost mushroom growing on a tree trunk one the Bellarine Peninsula in Victoria. Its eerie green bioluminescence is thought to attract insects to disperse spores. The photo also scooped first place in the Plants and Fungi sub-category.
The awards also recognize mobile phone photography, with this shot of a cuckoo wasp by Pamela Walsh winning in that category.
The winners were chosen from more than 350 entries, and announced at the society’s conference in Launceston in November. You can see all the winners, and highlights from the commendations and short-listed entries in this image gallery.