Dead whales and dinosaur eggs: 7 fascinating images by researchers

Dead humback whale on beach from aerial view
Researchers from the University of Glasgow’s Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme conduct a necropsy of a stranded humpback whale.

Oh, the wonders scientists see in the field. Documenting the encounters can be an integral part of the discovery process, but it can also pull others into the experience. These seven photos and illustrations are the winners of this year's BMC Ecology and Evolution image competition, which gets submissions from researchers all around the world each year. It includes four categories: "Research in Action," "Protecting our planet," "Plants and Fungi," and "Paleoecology."

See the full gallery of winners and their stories on the BMC Ecology and Evolution website. And explore last year's winners here.

Fruiting bodies of small orange fungi
An invasive orange pore fungus poses unknown ecological consequences for Australian ecosystems.
Beekeepers holding honeycomb in Guinea
Marine biologist releasing black-tip reef shark in ocean
A researcher releases a new-born blacktip reef shark in Mo’orea, French Polynesia.
Hadrosaur egg with embryo. Illustration.
This digital illustration is based on a pair of hadrosauroid dinosaur eggs and embryos from China’s Upper Cretaceous red beds, dating back approximately 72 to 66 million years ago. It depicts an example of a "primitive" hadrosaur developing within the safety of its small egg.
Brown spider on wood parasitized by fungus
While it is not uncommon to encounter insects parasitised by “zombie” fungi in the wild, it is a rarity to witness large spiders succumbing to these fungal conquerors. In the jungle, near a stream, lies the remains of a conquest shaped by thousands of years of evolution.
Marine biologists steering underwater robot in the ocean
Researchers from the Hoey Reef Ecology Lab deploy an underwater ROV at Diamond Reef within the Coral Sea Marine Park.