Department of Hydrobiology

Staff:

  • Head of the Department:
    • Professor Małgorzata Strzelec
  • Academic Teachers:
    • Irena Bielańska-Grajner, PhD, DSc
    • Mariola Krodkiewska, PhD, DSc
    • Iga Lewin, PhD, DSc
    • Aneta Spyra, PhD
    • Anna Cieplok, PhD
    • Adrianna Lisowska, MSc

Main field of research:

  • The impact of hydrological changes of industrial areas in Upper Silesia on the diversity of benthic fauna. The special emphasis is given on biology and ecology of oligochaetes (Oligochaeta), leeches (Hirudinida), snails (Gastropoda) and mussels (Bivalvia) in the anthropogenic water bodies of different location and economic use and in rivers with varying degrees of anthropogenic transformation of riverbeds;
  • Ecological aspects of the occurrence and spread of alien species of snails, mussels and invasive crustaceans;
  • The impact of alien and invasive species on the diversity of benthos fauna and the influence of the scale of transformation of aquatic environments being under the influence of anthropogenic pressure on biodiversity of selected groups of benthic invertebrates;
  • The importance of industrial water bodies in maintaining the diversity of aquatic fauna in industrial and urban areas;
  • The importance of anthropogenic ponds in the dispersion of alien species;
  • The use of benthos invertebrates and macrophytes in the assessment of the ecological status and potential of rivers according to the Water Framework Directive of the European Union.

For students:

  • Erasmus +:
    • Selected topics in hydrobiology
    • Ecological consequences of invasions