UK Royal Society Publishing Photography Competition 2017 Winners

Winner, Behaviour category. Respiro by Antonia Doncila. This photograph was taken while crossing the Fram Strait near the eastern Greenland coast. The polar bear found a portion of fast ice which rapidly became his home. (Photo by Antonia Doncila/PA Wire/Royal Society Publishing Photography Competition 2017)

Overall winner, and winner in Earth Science and Climatology category. Icy Sugar Cubes by Peter Convey. A photograph taken over the English Coast (southern Antarctic peninsula) illustrating the scale of unusual bi-directional crevassing as an ice sheet is stretched in two directions over an underlying rise, with a Twin Otter aeroplane as scale. (Photo by Peter Convey/PA Wire/Royal Society Publishing Photography Competition 2017)

Runner up, Behaviour category. Breeding by David Costantini. Arctic terns in Svalbard. (Photo by David Costantini/PA Wire/Royal Society Publishing Photography Competition 2017)

Honourable mention, Behaviour category. Toss the scorpion – Indian roller playing with its kill by Susmita Datta. The image was taken during an early morning safari drive at Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve in India. (Photo by Susmita Datta/PA Wire/Royal Society Publishing Photography Competition 2017)

Runner up, Earth Science and Climatology category. Bow first by Giuseppe Suaria. The Russian research vessel Akademik Tryoshnikov leans its bow against the Mertz Glacier’s snout in Eastern Antarctica. The photo was taken moments before deploying Ropos, a remotely operated underwater vehicle, under the glacier tongue to investigate the melting of the ice-sheet after a piece of ice protruding 100km (62 miles) out into the Southern Ocean broke away from the main body of the tongue in 2010. (Photo by Giuseppe Suaria/PA Wire/Royal Society Publishing Photography Competition 2017)

Honourable mention, Earth Science and Climatology category. Pele’s fire by Sabrina Koehler. The image shows the 61G lava flow at the Pu’u O’o eruption site of the active Kilauea volcano in Hawaii’s Volcano national park. (Photo by Sabrina Koehler/PA Wire/Royal Society Publishing Photography Competition 2017)

Winner, Astronomy category. Lunar Spotlight, South Pole, Antarctica, by Daniel Michalik. Ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere create a rare optical phenomenon: a light pillar underneath the Moon. (Photo by Daniel Michalik/PA Wire/Royal Society Publishing Photography Competition 2017)

Runner up, Astronomy category. Diamond ring through thin clouds by Wei-feng Xue. The American Eclipse of 2017 seen from the part of the path of totality that went through northern Georgia. This is the diamond ring lighting up some very thin cloud structures, looking almost like space clouds (ie a nebula). (Photo by Wei-Feng Xue/PA Wire/Royal Society Publishing Photography Competition 2017)

Honourable mention, Astronomy category. Within Reach by Petr Horalek. The skies above ESO’s Paranal Observatory resemble oil on water as greens, yellows and blues blend to create an iridescent skyscape. The rocky, barren landscape below evokes an alien world, complementing the cosmic display above. (Photo by Petr Horalek/PA Wire/Royal Society Publishing Photography Competition 2017)

Winner, Ecology and Environmental Science category. Waiting in the Shallows by Nico de Bruyn. Orcas suddenly enter a small bay at subantarctic Marion Island, surprising a small huddle of king penguins busy preening themselves in the water. (Photo by Nico de Bruyn/PA Wire/Royal Society Publishing Photography Competition 2017)

Runner up, Ecology and Environmental Science category. Invincible ants by Thomas Endlein. Pitcher plants are carnivorous, drawing nutrients from trapped and digested insects. The species shown here (Nepenthes bicalcarata) secretes sweet nectar on the rim and fang-like structures, which are very slippery for most insects except for one specialised ant (Camponotus schmitzii). The ants live in the curled hollow tendrils of the plant and manage to climb in and out of the pitcher without any difficulties to steal a bit of nectar, as shown here. (Photo by Thomas Endlein/PA Wire/Royal Society Publishing Photography Competition 2017)