The Bełchatów Lignite Mine of Poland is a treasure-cove for mid-to late Miocene plant and animal fossils, deposited in a slow-flowing river valley with swamps and oxbow lakes. Here, we report the finding of abundant fossil anomopod cladocerans. Some are three-dimensionally preserved, including the taxonomically important trunk limbs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe aim of this study was to determine the relationships in the microbial trophic network underpinning them about communities of plankton ciliates in shallow oxbow lakes of the Vistula River in southern Poland (Jeziorzany 1, Jeziorzany 2, Piekary, Tyniec). The plankton components (phytoplankton, ciliates, zooplankton) were grouped by dietary preference. The studied oxbows differed in physicochemical parameters and in phytoplankton.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe authors tested the hypothesis that zooplankton diversity and density are affected by the presence of cyanotoxins in the water. The authors focused on 4 oxbow lakes of the Vistula River in southern Poland, which are subjected to mass cyanobacterial development. In 2 of the oxbows (Piekary and Tyniec), microcystins released into the water were found.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe effects of the long-term contamination of water reservoirs with mine effluents were investigated at an abandoned mine site in Upper Silesia, southern Poland. The studies covered metal content and mobility in bottom sediments as well as water chemistry in relation to the content of metals in selected macrophytes and their physiology and the composition of phyto- and zooplankton communities. Although it is 40 years since mining ceased, reservoir sediments are still heavily contaminated with cadmium, zinc and lead with concentrations (mg/kg), which vary roughly between 130–340, 10,000–50,000 and 4,000–12,000, respectively.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF