The striking photograph above vividly captures the spores of a zombie fungus as they sprout from the body of a host fly. It won the BMC Ecology and Evolution image competition in the year 2022. Senior members of the journal's editorial board selected the winning images.
A photographer affiliated with both the University of Valencia in Spain and Lund University in Sweden snapped a picture of a fungus in the jungle. There are more than 400 different species of Cordyceps fungi that can be used to target insects. Consider Cordyceps as an example of nature controlling its population.
The host's brain and body are invaded by Ophiocordyceps through the dispersal of spores in the air. The host is made a zombie by the chemicals released by the mycelia that reach into the brain. The host is slowly being fed by the fungus, which then feeds on the body's dead cells.
It's a conquest shaped by thousands of years of evolution, according to the board member who praised the winner. The fly's death gives life to the Fungus.
There are winners and runners-up in each category.
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An image of a Bombycilla garrulus is the work of a researcher at the University of Eastern Finland. The birds love the berries so much that they will migrate to other parts of the world if the berries are plentiful. Waxwings can eat two times their weight in rowan berries in a day. The birds get food and the berries get fruit.
The relationship does not come without a cost for the birds. As the berries become overripe, they start to ferment and produce alcohol which can cause trouble for the birds, even death. Waxwings have evolved to be able to deal with accidental alcoholism.
Alexander T. Baugh snapped this picture of a fringe-lipped bat eating a male tungara frog at a research institute in Panama. Natural and sexual selection are at odds with each other when bats hear the low-frequency calls of the frog. The bat's salivary glands can counteract the toxins in the skin if their prey is poisonous.
Three elephants were captured by a University of Washington student in a national park in South Africa. The baobab tree thrives in dry climates by storing water in its trunk. The elephants can dig into the trunks to get water.
Elephants stripped the bark in order to find water. Climate change and the elephants stripping the bark faster than the trees can heal has slowed the healing of the boabab trees. This image shows the need for action to prevent the permanent loss of these trees.
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