BEAUTIFUL AWARD-WINNING BIOSCAPES
Our brains always seem to want to make something big out of something small. Microscopic forms become landscapes. And when they are alive, they are bioscapes.
Looking like an aerial view of a giant white mud pit, this still image of colonial rotifers, by Ralph Grimm, won first prize in the most recent Olympus BioScapes competition. Known as “wheel” animals, because of the way they move their cilia, these organisms are a form of freshwater plankton. An important part of ecosystems all over the planet, over 2000 species of rotifers both help to decompose organic matter to make soil and serve as food to larger animals. Watch how rotifers move as they feed in this fascinating video.
Photo: Arlene Wechezak, Red Algae
Like jewel-encrusted necklaces, these red algae images, captured by Arlene Wechezak, won second place in the BioScapes competition. Evoking slivers of citrine and carnelian cabachons on rose gold branches, the red algae reproductive tetraspores and golden diatoms are beautifully portrayed against a black backdrop, just as a jeweler would show off a piece on a black velvet tray.
Red algae (Rhodophyta) appear in some of the oldest fossils found. They are eukaryotes, a type of multi-celled organism whose cells contain complex structures enclosed within membranes. There are between 5000 and 10,000 species found in waters around the world. Some secrete calcium carbonate help to form coral reefs. Dulse, and other forms of red algae are eaten in many cultures, both in their pure state and processed as agar, carrageenans, food thickening agents.
Igor Siwanowicz’s image of polypodium virginianum sporangia shows it packed with spores and covered with specialized protective hairs called paraphyses. Sporangia are the “womb” of plant spores. All plants have them. In ferns, they are often visible in sori, a ringed cluster of sporangia found on the undersides of the frond leaves. Polypodium virginianum are a North American variety of evergreen fern that typically grows on rocks and tree roots.
"Microscope images forge an extraordinary bond between science and art," said Hidenao Tsuchiya, President, Olympus Corporation of the Americas. We find them to be a treasure trove of beauty, even more precious because they are impossible for the naked eye to see.
Check our related stories, Beautiful Community Coral, Unearthly Macro Coral Reefs, Sea Slugs Ready to Rock, and The Most Beautiful Invisible Things.
