In our fourth annual image competition we received over 140 entries from all around the world – anyone affiliated with a research institution was eligible to enter the competition. Trust us, choosing the winners from all of the wonderful submissions was a fun but difficult task. Thanks to the BMC Ecology Section Editors as well as our guest judge, Dr. Matthew Palmer of Columbia University, who helped select this year’s favorites.

This collection of photos grants us access to distant corners of the world and presents stunning and unique perspectives of ecological activity. And the eight featured here are just a preview – be sure to check out our editorial about the competition for more in-depth discussion of these photos as well as a great list of 18 “highly commended” honorable mentions.

Each of these photographers will be featured in a “Behind the Image” blog series, so make sure to follow the BMC Series blog to read the stories behind these fantastic images. Our interview with overall winner David Gaglio is available now.

We are excited to celebrate ecological research and the beauty of the natural world with this annual competition, and want to thank all of the participants and the readers for continuing to make this a fun event. We hope you enjoy admiring the best of the 2016 competition, and stay tuned in for next year’s launch to participate in 2017.

These images have been released under a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY), so everyone is welcome and encouraged to share them freely, while providing attribution to the image author.