Biography

Adrianna Wojtal-Frankiewicz - associate professor in Department of Applied Ecology and director of the Institute of Ecology and Environmental Protection, Faculty of Biology and Environmental Protection, University of Lodz. Dr. A. Wojtal-Frankiewicz conducts research in the field of biology and ecology of plankton in inland freshwater ecosystems. She specializes in studies of trophic interactions in aquatic food chains, the impact of cyanotoxins on aquatic organisms, antioxidant mechanisms protecting zooplankton from harmful effects of cyanobacteria toxins, analysis of long-term changes in plankton succession depending on biotic and abiotic conditions. Her research concerns monitoring and control of ecosystem succession processes in subsequent stages of eutrophication, reduction of eutrophication symptoms (such as toxic algal blooms) in reservoirs and lakes by regulation of feedbacks in hydrological and biological systems. She is also involved in research related to ecohydrology and ecological biotechnologies - application of hydrological, biological and biogeochemical processes for regulation of water dynamics in the landscape and biogeochemical cycles e.g. enhancement of self-purification processes in reservoirs and change of nutrients and pollutants allocation in impacted ecosystems. Her scientific achievements are 74 items, including 37 peer-reviewed scientific articles. Her previous scientific cooperation: 1) participation as an investigator in the frame of Polish-Chinese scientific and technological international cooperation: „Early warning system of Cyanobacteria bloom in freshwater reservoirs and lakes”; Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, China; 2) cooperation with the Department of Zoology, Galway, National University of Ireland, within the assignment "Effects of Zebra Mussels on ecological processes in small west of Ireland lakes" realized in the frame of the project "Ecology of research lakes", funded by the Environmental Protection Agency as part of the BIOCHANGE research program.