Adrian Dahood, a PhD Candidate, in the  De Mutsert Fish Ecology Lab, won the 2016 Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS) Fieldwork Photo Competition.  In addition to bragging rights, Adrian won a travel grant to a polar conference of her choosing.  There were 57 entries in the competition and the general public voted on their favorites.  Adrian’s photo received the highest number of votes!   You can view all of winning photographs here: http://www.apecs.is/news/apecs-news/1414-winners-of-the-apecs-international-polar-week-photo-contest-2016.html

Adrian’s dissertation research focusses on designing a new marine protected area in the Western Antarctic Peninsula Region.  To this end she is creating foodweb models and spatial models to describe many of the species that live in the region. The winning photo shows one of her study species, gentoo penguins (Pygoscelis papua ) porpoising in the northern part of her study area. The day the photo was taken was an unusually sunny and calm day, allowing the travelling penguins to perfectly reflect on the water’s surface.