Competition-Winning Pictures Of Life On Earth

The stunning variety and beauty of life around us is on display in this year's BioMed Central's Ecology Image Competition. The contest was open to any scientist affiliated with a research institution.

"It struck me that professional ecologists might view the natural world differently to wildlife photographers or amateur naturalists," Simon Harold, editor of the journals, which cover all sorts of biology and life sciences, said in a press release.

"This competition was a means for these researchers to show off what they find so compelling about the research to which they have dedicated their working lives — from the world of lowly arctic bacteria, to richly biodiverse tropics," he said.

We've rounded up the winners and some honorable mentions from the competition.