NATTAI NATIONAL PARK, AUSTRALIA
Halloween may have been and gone, but how’s this for a spooky scene? The eerily glowing fungi you see here is officially known as Omphalotus nidiformis, although it has a rather more apt nickname: the ghost mushroom.
Commonly found growing on dead or dying trees in Australia, the mushrooms are funnel-shaped with gills on the outside. When seen during the day, they’re cream coloured with brown and black shading. When night falls, however, they take on a wholly different hue thanks to their bioluminescent properties. They glow green in the dark and while the glow is visible to the naked eye, it’s better seen through a camera, as in this image, taken by Callie Chee, which won first place in the Plants and Fungi category of the 2022 Nature Conservancy Photo Contest.
See all the winning photos from the 2022 Nature Conservancy Photo Contest:
Grand Prize: Li Ping, China. On either side of a highway in Tibet, a dry riverbed stretches out like a tree. To capture this image, photographer Li Ping slept in a roadside car park overnight before using a drone in the early morning to photograph this natural landscape 
Guest Judge Ami Vitale’s Choice: Shafeeq Mulla, Zambia. ‘An Unforgiving Kingdom’ – A leopard known as Olimba carries the carcass of a female vervet monkey with its baby still hanging on for dear life 
Celebrity Judge Coyote Peterson’s Choice: Florian Ledoux, Norway. ‘Breastfeeding in Town’ – A female polar bear nurses her two cubs in the harbour of the abandoned Russian settlement, Pyramiden 
First Place – Landscape: Francisco Javier Munuera González, Spain. ‘Adi’ – “We ascended Monte Adi, in Navarra through the forest and when we reached the top, the fog cleared for a few minutes and we could enjoy the view.” Javier Munuera 
Second Place – Landscape: Hendy Wicaksono, Indonesia. ‘Mystical Bromo’ – Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park is one of the top 10 tourist destinations in Indonesia thanks to its mountainous landscape 
Honourable Mention – Landscape: Ivan Pedretti, Italy. ‘Difference’ – A view of Iceland’s Vestrahorn mountain in winter. “I like the difference in colours between the white mountains and the black dunes with the yellow grass.” Ivan Pedretti 
Honourable Mention – Landscape: Waluya Priya Atmaja, Indonesia. ‘Mangrove Tree’ – Taken in Lamongan, East Java in October 2021, this image shows the mangroves that were planted to reduce the impact of abrasion around this area 
Honourable Mention – Landscape: Effy Varley, UK. ‘Reflection’– “When I think of silence, I think of here. Everything was still except for my breath, which would occasionally rise in-front of my face and break my view of this beautiful lake.” Effy Varley 
First Place – People and Nature: Janusz Jurek, Poland. ‘Rest’ – “This photo was taken in Greece. I wanted to photograph the sea, but turned 180° and what I saw turned out to be more interesting.” Janusz Jurek 
Second Place – People and Nature: Komang Arnawa, Indonesia. ‘Abundant nets’ – A fisherman sorts his catch in the village of Kedonganan Bali 
Honourable Mention – People and Nature: Francesca Franchini, Mexico. The jungle of the Yucatan Peninsula protects a great biodiversity of species. The Mayan Train will be built here, a project that will affect the country’s best preserved jungle and the largest system of flooded caves on Earth 
Honourable Mention – People and Nature: Giovani Cordioli, Brazil. “I was at Varadero beach, Cuba when I saw this huge cloud coming. I took some shots of this amazing storm and captured the exact moment when the lightning strikes the sea, without using long exposure features in daylight. That’s it!” Giovani Cordioli 
Honourable Mention – People and Nature: Amish Jain, India. ‘Faith Above Everything’ – A man standing in freezing-cold water waiting for Sun God to arrive during Chatth Puja Festival 
Honourable Mention – People and Nature: Marvin Mwarangu, Kenya. As the mother is sedated, a veterinarian works quickly to diagnose and treat an elephant calf wound. The image was taken at Ol Pejeta conservancy on 20 July 2022 
Honourable Mention – People and Nature: Marcelo Paulo Silva, Brazil. ‘Post-Lockdown Beach’ – Praia do Pontal in Rio de Janeiro on the first day after the beaches lockdown 
First Place – Climate: Sandesh Kadur, India. ‘Lizards and Windmills’ – A vibrant fan-throated lizard in the Chalkewadi Plateau, the site of one of the largest wind farms in India’s Satara region. Researchers believe that windmills may affect predator behaviour giving a chance for these tiny lizards to thrive 
Second Place – Climate: Amish Jain, India. ‘Cleaning the Lakes’ – A person cleaning the lakes of excessive sea vegetation due to the hotter climate and waste being dumped into the water. 
Honourable Mention – Climate: Jassen Todorov, USA. ‘Making Paper’ – An aerial shot of wastewater ponds that are dangerous but necessary to avoid the leaking or deliberate discharging of inadequately treated water into fresh and saltwater ecosystems 
Honourable Mention – Climate: Ziaul Huque, Bangladesh. A worker at a road construction site labours away unprotected from the harmful smoke and dust 
Honourable Mention – Climate: Marcelo Perez del Carpio, Bolivia. ‘The Tucabaca’s Night’ – Volunteer forest firefighter Daniel Vargas Osinaga (21) walks through thick smoke after helping to extinguish a fire in Santa Rosa de Tucabaca on 25 August, 2019 
Honourable Mention – Climate: Jassen Todorov, USA. An aerial shot of the devastation caused by the Dixie fire, California’s largest single wildfire. 
Honourable Mention – Climate: Florian Ledoux, Norway. ‘Two worlds’ – An aerial view showing how sea ice, being less thick than it used to be, is being more affected by seasonal winter storms and breaking apart more easily 
First Place – Water: Kristin Wright, USA. ‘Braided River’ – Brightly coloured sediment paints the Icelandic landscape as it flows towards the ocean. The Þjórsá is the longest river in Iceland, originating at Hofsjökull glacier and meandering 230km to the Atlantic 
Second Place – Water: Nick Leopold Sordo, Mexico. The Las Coloradas salt mines in Yucatan. In these pink water lagoons is one of the most important salt generating plants in the country. They adjoin the Río Lagartos Natural Park, which is an important site for the American flamingo 
Honourable Mention – Water: Dasun Nirmala Malaarachchi, Australia. Blue water, golden sand and white foam mixed with bright sunlight paints gorgeous designs under the Sea Cliff Bridge in New South Wales, Australia 
Honourable Mention – Water: Tom Shlesinger, Israel. “Observing this grouper surround by many round scads, it reminded me of Gulliver arriving at Lilliput and walking carefully so as not to step on the tiny Lilliputians. ” Tom Shlesinger 
Honourable Mention – Water: Tom Fenske, USA. ‘Thor’s Well’ – Also known as the Drainpipe of the Pacific, this natural hole in the rock along the Oregon Coast is seen here at sunset. When the tide is just right the ocean seems to drain away through the hole 
Second Place – Plants and Fungi: Xiaoling Keller, USA. A soaptree yucca in White Sands National Park, New Mexico 
Honourable Mention – Plants and Fungi: Tibor Litauszki, Hungary. ‘Crocus wave’ – “To get these crocuses in the twilight, I lit them with a flash while also using a torch on them from behind. The undulating effect is due to the long shutter speed and the movement of the camera.” Tibor Litauszki 
Honourable Mention – Plants and Fungi: Patrick Krohn, USA. ‘Balance’ – “Dew drops balance on this purple heart flower on an early morning in the spring of 2022 in my front yard in Aiken, South Carolina.” Patrick Krohn 
Honourable Mention – Plants and Fungi: Jake Virus, USA. ‘The Last Truffula Tree’ – Deep in Ba Vi National Park in Vietnam sits a beautiful, yet spooky, forest. This must be where Dr Seuss got his inspiration for The Lorax. 
Honourable Mention – Plants and Fungi: Cristiano Xavier, Brazil. ‘Dragon Blood Trees’ – Dragon Blood Trees in a long-exposure night photo. These trees only grow in the high plateaus of Yemen’s Socotra Island 
Honourable Mention – Plants and Fungi: Cristiano Xavier, Brazil. ‘Ancient’ – An old tree of Portugal’s Madeira Island painted with light in a foggy evening. This forest grows in a high part of the island and has some amazing mossy trees 
First Place – Wildlife: Anup Shah, UK. ‘Morani And Friend’ – Maasai Mara, Kenya 
Second Place – Wildlife: Panos Laskarakis, Greece. ‘Giant in dust’ – The African dust around this giant is one of the best spectacles in Namibia 
Honourable Mention – Wildlife: Tibor Litauszki, Hungary. ‘Follow Me’ “This photo shows deer at dawn. I photographed them with automated techniques and the help of a long shutter speed.” Tibor Litauszki 
Honourable Mention – Wildlife: Baiju Patil, India. ‘Keep Your Distance’ – This photo was taken in Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary, Rajasthan, India 
Honourable Mention – Wildlife: Torie Hilley, USA. ‘A Giant’s Ballet’ – “During my time in South Africa, we came across these two young bull giraffes ‘necking’, which is their form of sparring or fighting.” Torie Hilley 
Honourable Mention – Wildlife: Rick Dowling, USA. ‘The Battle’ – “The eagles were fighting for a piece of salmon. The eagle on top flew on down on to the eagle below to try and get the fish.” Rick Dowling 
Honourable Mention – Wildlife: Masahiro Hiroike, Japan. ‘Himebotaru’ – “I took this photo on 21 June 2022 in Nanbu Town, Tottori Prefecture. Himebotaru is a small firefly that lives in the forest and emits a short and powerful light, like a flash. When a firefly passes near the camera, it becomes a big blur.” Masahiro Hiroike 
Honourable Mention – Wildlife: Tibor Litauszki, Hungary. ‘The Journey Of A Moth’ – “This photo was taken at dusk in the summer of 2021. To keep track of the flight, I used an LED headlight and lit (froze) the butterfly with a flash.” Tibor Litauszki 
Honourable Mention – Wildlife: Fabio Saltarelli, Argentina. ‘Stalking’ – An elephant seal defends her calf from the stalking of a caracara in the Malvinas [Falkland] Islands 
Honourable Mention – Wildlife: Jenny Zhao, USA. ‘Giraffe Drinking’ – A low-angle shot of a giraffe drinking at a waterhole, accompanied by oxpeckers, in the Zimanga Private Game Reserve, South Africa