Finalist - Travel Photographer of the Year. December 2019.

Endangered Planet Portfolio Category

Freshwater Habitats

Filaments of Spirogyra algae, an abundant and vital first link in freshwater food webs. This simple life form reproduces rapidly leading to thousands of individual strands. When combined, they form a tangled labyrinth known as water silk. Microscopic bubbles formed during photosynthesis reflect the world around them.

In the same way these strands connect together, so too do our freshwater systems. Puddles and ponds, streams and rivers, lakes and wetlands all connect via each other forming a vast network. This freshwater superhighway enables wildlife to move from place to place, to survive and thrive. But these are habitats under pressure. They are one of our planet’s most exploited and rapidly diminishing resources.

The widespread use of chemicals to control green algae and pondweed is a prime example of habitat modification. It’s a human solution that has a detrimental effect on water quality, the impact of which runs from the base of the food chain all the way up.

Location: Urban wildlife pond, Surrey, England

Photographer: Laura Storm