Majestic image of a King Penguin watching over HUNDREDS of adorable baby chicks wins prestigious photography award

Dr Chris Oosthuizen took the overall winning image for his photo 'Stand out from the crowd'. It was captured while spending a year on the remote Marion Island - part of the Prince Edward Islands in the sub-Antarctic. He was conducting research on seals and killer whales at the time. King penguin populations inhabiting Subantarctic islands such as Marion Island face an uncertain future, as global climate change may shift oceanic fronts, where they feed, further away from breeding sites

Adrià López Baucells of the University of Lisbon's image 'Flying in the rain' shows a bat flying in the rain in Manaus, Brazil. It won the Individuals and Populations category. She said: 'If I was asked to pick one representative bat species in the Amazon, I would chose the Seba's short-tailed bat (Carollia perspicillata) without hesitation. It is one of the most common species in the Amazon region and is superabundant in young forests and regrowth vegetation, where it feeds on juicy fruits from pioneering plants such as Vismia or Cecropia. The Seba's short-tailed bat is one of those species that many people forget due to its commonness as our attention is focused on rare and surprising sightings. However, most of the essential ecosystem services on which our survival depends, such as seed dispersal, forest regeneration and recovery, will be carried out by species like C. perspicillata'

Winner of the 'Up close and Personal' category Roberto Garci­a-Roa of the University of Valencia' Web of life. He said: 'Only going really close to them one can see that spiders, which are usually hated by a big part of society, are also vulnerable. The spider web is their safeguard where they eat, mate and are protected from most potential predators, so they build a web of life in their dark and small world. Only the beauty of this animals is comparable to the bad reputation this group has'

Student winner Alex Edwards of the University of Plymouth's 'Look into my eyes.' It was taken in Costa Rica wwhilst studying herpetofauna in the Area de Conservacian Guanacaste, in Costa Rica. They said: 'I came across this fantastic little Powdered Glass Frog (Teratohyla pulverata) perched on a leaf in the rainforest'

'Dynamic Ecosystems' by Student Winner Sandra Angers-Blondin of the University of Edinburgh depicts a fox on the hunt in Canada. A red fox (Vulpes vulpes) hunting for tundra voles and lemmings in the Canadian Arctic. She said: 'Foxes can sense their prey scurrying in the grass or snow, and jump to attack from above. I watched this particular fox over several days, and most of his hunts were successful'

Sudent Winner Ella Cooke, a BSc Ecology and Conservation student, took this UV image of a beetle. She said: 'The unique and innovative opportunity to track invertebrates using ultraviolet powder and torches was a big highlight of the British Ecological Society's 2018 Summer School for me. The dark environment, coupled with the vibrant colours, presented some challenging yet exciting conditions to test my wildlife photography skills in'

Individuals and Populations Student Winner Adrià López Baucells of the University of Lisbon's image 'Climbing in the tropics'. She said 'While walking in the pristine Amazon rainforest looking for bat roosts and selecting spots to set up our mist nets to capture bats for our scientific research, a faint and almost imperceptible noise suddenly caught our attention just above our heads. An outstanding anteater (Tamandua tetradactyla) was climbing with exceptional ability in a tangled mess of branches and lianas. With an enjoyable smile and unbelievable calmness, the animal observed our movements, inspected how we took the camera out of our bags, slowly and smoothly, and examined our agitation. He seemed to enjoy being the subject of a photography session in the most biodiverse ecosystem on Earth. He then continued climbing up to the canopy where we eventually lost sight of him'

People and Nature Student Winner Lydia Gibson of University College London's 'Birds of a feather'. She said: 'Greater Antilles Bird hunting is part of rural Caribbean culture and a mechanism through which other associated forest lore and tradition, such as wayfinding and plant knowledge that can improve conservation science - are maintained. This photograph, taken in a newly designated protected area, captures the complex biological and cultural considerations of hunting threatened parrots'

Mark Tatchell, a retired ecologist's 'Marine iguanas warm up' taken in the Galapagos Islands won The Art of Ecology prize. He said: 'Marine iguanas on the Galapagos Islands need to warm up each day before they can become active. These individuals had climbed onto a washed up tree stump on the beach on Isabela Island to catch the sun's rays. The black and white image enhances the drama of the habitat'

Student Winner Mathilde Le Moullec of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology's 'Can you feel the harsh climate of the high Arctic?' taken in Svalbard, Norway. She said: 'Shrub ring-growth is irregular under the high-arctic Svalbard climate. The story started onboard a sailboat at the northern distribution margin of shrubs. Months in the laboratory generated 2mm cross-sections of Salix polaris'. Art became science, developing ring-growth time-series retrospectively tracking vascular plants' biomass'

Overall Runner-up Roberto Garci­a-Roa of the University of Valencia's 'Living fossil' shows a Moroccan snake. He said: 'Cerastes vipera is one of the snake species that live buried in the sand to adapt to the warm conditions of the environment. Each scale of its body is shaped like a small spoon that is used with a hypnotic movement to go into the sand, avoid predators and wait for prey'

Ecology in Action Winner Dominik Behr, of the University of Zurich and Botswana and the Predator Conservation Trust's 'The tables have turned' was taken in the Okavango Delta, Botswana. This image shows an African wild dog pup playing with a tranquilliser dart. He said: 'After we anaesthetised an adult individual in a pack, this pup was giving us a hard time to recover the dart and seemed very proud of his newly found toy'

Overall Runner-up Peter J Hudson of Penn State University' 'Pollination!' was taken in Arizona. He said: 'Bats act as disease reservoirs for emerging infections and our studies in Australia have shown they only transmit Hendra to horses and people when they are starving. We now have evidence that this is caused by deforestation and have started a rewilding of native trees'

Overall Student Winner Adrià López Baucells of the University of Lisbon's 'Shadows in the sky', taken in Manaus, Brazil. She said: 'The neotropical fringe-lipped bat (Trachops cirrhosus) is a medium-sized bat found in dry and moist forests extending from Mexico to Brazil. The species is easily identified by its prominent papilla-like projections on the lips and muzzle. This is one of the few neotropical bats known to capture and prey on vertebrate species. Actually, fringe-lipped bats are known mostly for their frog-eating habits. However, their diet is still poorly understood in the Amazon'

People and Nature Winner Nibedita Mukherjee of the University of Exeter's 'Man in mangrove' was taken in Kerala, India. She said: 'The value of mangrove ecosystems to local communities and particularly to traditional fishermen around the world is well recognised. This picture was taken during the early hours of the morning while we both were doing our respective fieldwork'

Dynamic Ecosystems Winner Chris Oosthuizen of the University of Pretoria's 'Stinkpot special' taken on Marion Island. He said: 'A southern giant petrel (Macronectes giganteus), also known as a stinker or stinkpot, preys on a young king penguin chick (Aptenodytes patagonicus), while adult king penguins look on. Despite their extensive reliance on carrion, southern giant petrels are apt terrestrial predators, and predatory interactions between petrels and penguins are common