Please credit all still and moving images © Biosphere Expeditions unless otherwise stated or agreed. Please ask for permission before using any of the material provided below.

Online image archive of all expeditions

Pictures of key staff

Captions available on request.

Note that the images in the archives are the best ones available to Biosphere Expeditions. They come from a variety of professional and non-professional sources, so quality will vary widely.

Biosphere Expeditions YouTube channel

Downloadable video archive

All “Real Nature …” videos are in German and Biosphere Expeditions holds open usage rights. 

All “VOX…” videos may be used to promote Biosphere Expeditions only. They are all in German too with the exception of a no sound Altai video.

Higher/broadcast quality versions are available on request from [email protected]

Staff overview with bios

Images of key staff

Bio & background Dr Matthias Hammer, Founder & Executive Director  

Expedition leader
Rossella Meloni
Rossella Meloni was born in Italy and has lived and worked in the UK for 12 years before experiencing life further afield by living in Muscat (Sultanate of Oman) and Seoul (South Korea). Rossella studied languages in Italy and gained a BSc in Computing and Information Systems from the University of Portsmouth. Since her first cautious breath underwater, well over a decade ago, she has become increasingly interested in the beauty and welfare of the underwater world. Her love for the marine environment and the outdoors encouraged her to join her first marine expedition in 2006 spending six weeks in a remote coastal village in Madagascar and later to continue training as PADI Open Water Diving Instructor. Her passion for diving and nature has led her to volunteer in remote areas of the world and eventually to lead a variety of holiday volunteering opportunities, some with Biosphere Expeditions. When she is not busy tinkering with technology, leading expeditions, volunteering or supporting environmental causes, she can be found exploring the outdoors and pursuing new adventures. She is also a City & Guilds trained photographer, a RYA competent crew, a keen kite surfer and a qualified Emergency First Response trainer.

Expedition leader
CatherineEdsell2
Catherine Edsell was born in the UK into a family of mountaineers, skiers and adventurers. With wanderlust in her blood she left England in 1997 and set off to the jungles of Central America and Indonesia, lived in the Himalaya with locals, trekked through the Namib desert in search of elusive elephants and dived the oceans surveying coral reefs. Her passion for conservation and volunteer holidays grew as she sought out and trained with expedition organisations that echoed her ecological beliefs, and for seven years straight, her feet barely touched British soil as she lived the expedition life in all manner of terrains. In 2014 Catherine was awarded a fellowship of the Royal Geographical Society for her continued contribution to conservation through expedition work. She is also a mountain leader, PADI Divemaster, coral reef ecologist and Reef Check trainer, and has led in the Azores, the Maldives and Musandam for Biosphere Expeditions. When not on expedition, Catherine teaches yoga, rock-climbs and dabbles in the flying trapeze.

Expedition leader
Amadeus DeKastle
Amadeus DeKastle has been living and working in Kyrgyzstan since 2009. Born in Germany and with a US passport, he holds a Masters degree in entomology from the University of Nebraska. He currently works with NGO Plateau Perspectives in environmental conservation with a number of citizen science research projects. He is also a part-time lecturer at the American University of Central Asia in the Environmental Management Department. In 2014 he found out about Biosphere Expeditions’ work in Kyrgyzstan and signed up as a placement. After two years of volunteering with Biosphere Expeditions, he decided to jump in with both feet and joined the team in 2016.