Imagebank Photographic Competition 2006                 

IMAGEBANK PHOTOGRAPHIC COMPETITION WINNERS

Thank you to everyone who submitted entries to the 2006 ImageBank Photographic Competition. We have had some wonderful images sent in which illustrate very well the theme of the competition, ‘Bioscience in Action’. The standard of entries was generally very high, and the judges had a difficult task deciding on the winners.

Here are the winning images, and those shortlisted, along with the descriptions sent in to accompany the photographs.  

Winner of our top prize of £500 was Toru Tsuzaki with his image of lampreys climbing a vertical wall.

Experiments were conducted to assess the ability of migrating adult lamprey that had been radio-tagged to negotiate vertical structures. Anecdotal evidence provided by the Native Americans suggested that the Pacific lampreys are capable of climbing waterfalls that have represented traditional sites of harvest. Lampreys were found to easily ascend a 1.4m high aluminium wall using a complex sequence of locomotive reflexes. Preliminary analysis suggests athat radio-tags had little effect on the climbing ability of these fish under the experimental conditions created.

Second prize of £200 was awarded to  Vicky Ogilvy with her photograph illustrating Tree Frog Adhesion

This is a close-up of the foot of the Trinidadian Tree Frog Phyllomedusa trinitatis. The toe pads are highly adapted to allow tree frogs to stick to a variety of surfaces. Taken in Trinidad, West Indies. Canon 20d, 60mm macro lens.

Two photographs were awarded equal third place, each winning £100.

Robin May 

Adhering macrophage

This image shows a human macrophage, a cell of the immune system that hunts down and eats invading organisms such as bacteria and fungi.  The cell has been stained with antibodies to reveal its internal structure.  The red stain shows actin, a protein that forms filaments which shape and remodel the cell.  The green stain shows a protein that the cell uses to adhere to surfaces.  These two overlap at so-called focal adhesion sites, which thus appear yellow.  The image has been taken using a confocal microscope, which produces three-dimensional images of very small cells such as this one. 

James Rosindell

Oriental Whip Snake

Date:  19/07/2004 Location: Buton island, off Sulawesi, Indonesia

Subject(s): Ahaetulla prasina

Description: The Oriental Whip Snake (Ahaetulla prasina) makes a very photogenic subject. I worked with a herpetologist and some other volunteers, we walked transects in order to assess diversity of amphibians and reptiles in the forest. Finds such as this were captured and carried in bags back to the camp where photographs and measurements were taken before the creature was released. This snake is classed as mildly venomous.                                                                                           

Shortlisted

Mostyn Brown

Through the keyhole:  insights into the working components of a living bacterial cell

A close up of the fluorescent microscope we use to study the chemotactic behaviour of the photosynthetic a-subgroup Proteobacterium, Rhodobacter sphaeroides.  This metabolically diverse bacterium employs a complex chemosensory system to swim towards favourable environments.  Whilst the cells themselves are very small, the fluorescent microscope is sensitive enough to track the movement of tiny fluorescently tagged proteins.  Data collected from such trials can be used to formulate and test the very latest chemotactic models. 

Michelle Gabriel

Mating Common Darters

Common darters mating on a honeysuckle branch in a garden in Northamptonshire, taken in August 2005.

Kuisoon Lee

Zebrafish

This is the plastic section of post in situ hybridisation zebrafish. The sample was sectioned through the anterior of the animal and the two hollows represent the ear of fish.

The blue colour represent the localisation of the transcript of the gene studied. The image was captured on a digital Sight DS-5M with U1 controller

Jenny Dunn

Chick being weighed

Yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella) populations have been severely impacted by the intensification of agriculture; as a result they are a red listed farmland bird.  My PhD involves measuring the growth rates of yellowhammer chicks and linking this to the foraging behaviour of the adult birds.  This chick didn’t seem too impressed at the idea of being weighed, as shown in this photograph.  This chick was approximately seven days old when this photograph was taken and would be ready to leave the nest in another 1 or 2 days.

Location: Tadcaster, West Yorkshire.Date: 20.07.06Photographic equipment: Konica Minolta Dimage Z5 Digital Camera.

Jenny Dunn

Yellowhammer chicks being measured

Description:  These yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella) chicks were very small and under-developed when compared to other four day old chicks.  When the parents were observed bringing back food, the rate

at which they provisioned their chicks with food was also low when compared to other nests.  This may be because it was the parents’ first breeding season, or it may be to due to factors around the nest, such as a low availability of insect food.

Location: Tadcaster, West Yorkshire

Date: 06.07.06

Photographic equipment: Konica Minolta Dimage Z5 Digital Camera.                                                                                   

Julie Kern

Dung beetles at work.

This dung beetle was trying very hard to roll his ball of dung up to the top of a small rigde in the road. Unfortunately every time he was a few centimetres away, he lost his balance and the ball would roll back down again.

Karongwe Game Reserve, South Africa, November 15th 2005

Julie Kern

Golden Orb Web Spider

This female golden ord web spider is in the process of catching her first meal of the day - a locust.

Selati Game Reserve, South Africa, March 30th 2006

Konica Minolta Dimage Z3

James Rosindell 

The Gunther’s Keelback (Rhabdophis chrysagoides) is related to the British Grass Snake.  I worked with a herpetologist and some other volunteers and we walked transects in order to assess diversity of amphibians and reptiles in the forest.  This snake is venomous and the bite can be lethal. In order to obtain this photograph, my herpetologist colleague distracted the snake by encouraging it focus on the end of a stick just off the right of the photograph. We both stayed safely out of striking distance for this operation.                

Date:  19/07/2004

Location: Buton island, off Sulawesi, Indonesia

Subject(s): Rhabdophis hrysagoides

James Rosindell

I took this photograph to show the reef as a whole, a very rich and speciose environment. Every part of the reef is a hive of activity. This photograph was taken near the surface where natural light can capture the colours of the fishes and coral. It appears that the orange Anthias (Pseudanthias squamipinnis) stay around the similarly coloured Fire Coral (Millepora dichotoma). The other coral in the picture is Broccoli Coral (Lithophyton arboreum); this is a soft coral and is more spongy and rubbery than brittle like the fire coral.  

Date:  18/12/2002 Location: Small Crack, North Red Sea

Subject(s): Pseudanthias squamipinnis , Millepora dichotoma , Lithophyton arboreum.                                                                                                        

Vicky Ogilvy 

White-necked Jacobin in Flight

A male White-necked Jacobin in flight.  This pictre was taken at the Asa Wright Nature Centre in Trinidad, West Indies.  The Asa Wright Centre is dedicated to conservation and provides eco-friendly holidays to bird watching enthusiasts from all over the world.

Vicky Ogilvy

Hummingbird having a bath!

This male white-necked Jacobin (Florisga mellivora) takes advantage of a sudden tropical downpour and take a bath.  (Taken with Canon 20d and telephoto lens