Gullies formed by rainwater erosion span out like a tree on either side of a motorway in Tibet. This is the striking image by Li Ping, from China, who won the grand prize for the Nature Conservancy photography award this year.
The photographer slept alone in a roadside car park overnight before using a drone in the early hours of the morning to capture this natural landscape.
Images from all over the world make up the winners list, which is broken down into various categories including judges’ picks, Landscape, People and Nature, Climate, Water, Plants and Fungi, and Wildlife.
The global photography competition this year received more than 100,000 submissions from 196 countries and territories.
In Wildlife, Indian photographer Sandesh Kadur bagged first place, with his image Lizards and Windmills. A fan-throated lizard stands guard over his territory in one of the largest wind farms within the Chalkewadi plateau.
Amish Jain, also from India, came in second place for the same category, for Cleaning the Lakes. It shows a person cleaning lakes of excessive sea vegetation owing to the hot climate, as well as waste being dumped into the waters.
The winning images within the Water category are particularly striking, with Kristin Wright, from the US, taking first place for Braided River, a view of the longest river in Iceland showing brightly coloured sediment painting the landscape as it flows towards the ocean.
Second place went to Nick Leopold Sordo, from Mexico, for Las Coloradas, Yucatan. Pink hues of the salt mines give a beautiful spin on one of the most important salt-generating plants in the country.
Anup Shah, from the UK, won Wildlife with his shot of two lions. The image, called Morani and Friend, shows an older lion next to his youthful companion in Kenya’s Maasai Mara. “The old guy is one of the Four Musketeers that ruled Mara long time ago,” reads the description.
Wildlife Photographer of the Year: winning images revealed — in pictures
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Under Antarctic ice by Laurent Ballesta, winner of the Portfolio Award category at the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition. All photos: PA -
Shooting star by Tony Wu, winner of the Underwater category. -
Battle stations by Ekaterina Bee, winner of the Young Wildlife Photography of the Year, ages 10 and under category. -
New life for the tohora by Richard Robinson, winner of the Oceans: The Bigger Picture category. -
The big buzz by Karine Aigner, overall winner and winner of the Behaviour: Invertebrates category. -
The Cuban connection by Karine Aigner, overall winner and winner of the Photojournalist Story Award category. -
The beauty of baleen by Katanyou Wuttichaitanakorn, winner of the Young Wildlife Photography of the Year, ages 15-17 category. -
Spectacled bear's slim outlook by Daniel Mideros, winner of the Animals in Their Environment category. -
The dying lake by Daniel Nunez, winner of the Wetlands - The Bigger Picture category. -
The listening bird by Nick Kanaki, winner of the Behaviour: Birds category. -
The great cliff chase by Anand Nambiar, winner of the Behaviour: Mammals category. -
The magical morels by Agorastos Papatsani, winner of the Plants and Fungi category. -
Ndakasi's passing by Brent Stirton, winner of the Photojournalism category. -
The bat-snatcher by Fernando Constantino Martinez Belmar, winner of the Behaviour: Amphibians and Reptiles category. -
House of bears by Dmitry Kokh, winner of the Urban Wildlife category. -
Puff perfect by Jose Juan Hernandez Martine, winner of the Animal Portraits category. -
Out of the fog by Ismael Dominguez Gutierrez, winner of the Young Wildlife Photography, ages 11-14 category. -
Heavenly flamingos by Junji Takasago, winner of the Natural Artistry category. -
A theatre of birds by Mateusz Piesiak, winner of the Rising Star Portfolio Award category.
