Figure 5

Winner: conservation ecology and biodiversity. “The image was taken on a Catlin Seaview Survey expedition to Tubbataha Natural Park of the Philippine waters of the Sulu Sea in the heart of the Coral Triangle. A young, tabulate Acroporid coral can be seen reaching its branches toward the sun to fuel its Symbiodinium algal symbionts with a plethora of reef fishes in the background. It is the marine equivalent of a young tree shooting skyward to fulfil its ecological role in a forest. Corals, branching Acroporids especially, contribute greatly to habitat complexity, or rugosity, of reefs increasing the microhabitats for other reef creatures.” Attribution: Catherine Kim.