Award-winning photos highlight the impact of climate change on nature

Every spring, residents of a nearby village drape a giant blanket over the Rhône Glacier in the Swiss Alps. The glacier, the main source of water for the Rhône River, has lost 40% of its volume in the past century. The blanket reduces ice melting by about 50% by protecting it from UV rays, but it does not stop the glacier from retreating. A 2019 study found that if emissions continue at the current rate, nearly all glaciers in the Alps will disappear by the end of the century.

Paulo Sousa’s photo of a covered glacier has won the top prize worth £1,000 at the 2023 Royal Society of Biology Photography Competition. The theme of this year’s contest is “Nature and Climate.”

“Glaciers remind us of the delicate balance between nature and humanity, being sentinels of climate change and at the same time sources of life-giving fresh water for countless communities,” Souza said in a press release. “The importance of glaciers goes beyond the beauty of the ice. They are important indicators of the health of our planet and the legacy we leave for future generations.”

Runner-up Daniel Shipp took a photo of a pink clownfish (Amphiprion periderion) near Bunaken Island off the coast of Sulawesi, Indonesia. The fish are protected by long tentacled anemone tentacles (Macrodactyla dorriensis) bleaching. Like corals, sea anemones have a symbiotic relationship with photosynthetic algae that live within their tissues. High temperatures can cause the algae to detach, and continued adverse conditions can lead to the death of the sea anemone.

Louise Pask was named Young Photographer of the Year for her photographs of African penguins (spinas spinas) in Boulders Beach, South Africa. Populations of these birds declined by 65 percent between 1989 and 2020, primarily due to a decline in the number of fish they prey on.

Young Photographer of the Year runner-up Isaac Savage captured this shot of a flooded footpath in York, England. Floods are expected to become more frequent and more severe in the UK as a result of climate change.

The shortlisted photos include Mostafijul Nasim’s aerial shot of a herd of buffalo walking through the sands of Bangladesh’s Bogra district, which is facing some of the worst effects of climate change. was. Many people who once made a living from buffalo farming have turned to other occupations because rising salinity means there is not enough drinking water to sustain large herds.

Another shortlisted image, taken by Maia Totilashvili, shows evergreen trees covered in ice in Tbilisi, Georgia.