Biologist taking skin sample from a whale shark to determine what plankton types the animal has been feeding on, Yum Balam Marine Protected Area, Quintana Roo, Mexico, North America

Polar Bear (Ursa maritimus) on sea ice off the sub-arctic coast of Hudson Bay, Churchill, Manitoba, Canada. Bears come to the coast of Hudson Bay in Fall waiting for the ice to freeze, and looking for a careless seal or dead whale to wash up. Global warming has shortened their winter so they are increasingly anxious as they wait for winter. While they wait, they engage in frequent wrestling matches to determine a mating hierarchy for the breeding season in March and April, and regularly check on the ice to see if it will carry them out to sea.

Mackenzie Valley Wolves or Canadian Timber Wolves (Canis lupus occidentalis) fighting to determine hierarchy with threatening gestures

At CRT Recycling in Brockton, Massachusetts, workers look over electronics collected locally to determine what is valuable to recycle in house and what is sent overseas.

Jennifer Carroll, oyster hatchery manager and researcher at Center of Marine Biotechnology, Baltimore MD.She is holding a diploid Asian oyster C. ariakensis in the "algae kitchen" in the biosecure laboratory. She is studying reproduction to determine whether to introduce into the bay.

Research divers from the MOC Marine Institute glue broken coral heads back together and map out coral damage at Molokini Marine Preserve off the island of Maui, Hawaii. In the future, data from here will help to determine the health of Hawaii's reefs, Maui, Hawaii, United States of America

Research divers from the MOC Marine Institute map out coral damage at Molokini Marine Preserve off the island of Maui, Hawaii. In the future, data from here will help to determine the health of Hawaii's reefs, Maui, Hawaii, United States of America