picture of an orange mushroom (Favulachia calocera), which grows on dead wood, won the third edition of the photo contest BMC Ecology and Evolution, a competition that honors works that represent the natural world, present and past. Other standouts in the four award categories include, for example, a picture of a newborn shark and a reconstruction of a dinosaur egg from the inside.
Despite its innocent and beautiful appearance, this fungus is an invasive species that displaces other fungi and is widespread throughout the Australian rainforest. It is important to closely monitor these species, whose spores are often carried by humans, in order to protect biodiversity in Australia, says Cornelia Sattler, a biologist at Macquarie University, Australia, and author of the winning image, quoted in a statement. He presses.
mushrooms Favulachia calocera It was first observed in Madagascar, but now this invasive species is spread across different regions of the planet. “Cornelia Sattler’s photograph allows us to peek into the world of fungi and fascinating, yet underrated and poorly studied organisms,” said Arne Traulsen, a member of the scientific journal’s editorial board. BMC Ecology and Evolutioncited in the same document.
In addition to the winning photo, the jury selected eight works in four categories: fieldwork, planetary protection and, finally, paleobiology. The jury members highlighted not only the “science stories” each image tells, but also the “artistic quality” of the works.
The aim of the competition is to give biologists, paleontologists and ecologists the opportunity to creatively express their scientific work, thus exploring the boundaries between art and science.
Joao Araujo, from the New York Botanical Garden in the United States, won first place in the Plants and Fungi category by recording an image of a fungus parasitizing a zombie ant fungus. This species is able to force infected insects to migrate to places more exciting for the growth of fungi.
Zombie ant fungi are found in forests all over the world, and these spaces coexist with other fungi that can parasitize, consume, and even castrate. Scientists have only recently begun to classify and describe this remarkable fungus that is capable of killing other fungi, says Joao Araujo.
The winner in the Paleontological Ecology category was presented by Jordan Mallon, of the Canadian Museum of Nature, and consists of a digital recreation, by Chinese Wenyu Ren, based on the discovery of two dinosaur eggs in China between 72 and 62 million years ago. . The image shows the embryonic development of a duck-billed dinosaur inside a late Cretaceous egg.
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