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The main purpose of this study is comparison of orthometric heights of measuring points and the accuracy of these heights depending on selected geoid model and measurement method. In addition, for better understanding of the essence of conducted research, paper provides information about: geoid and other surfaces used in geodesy to describe the terrestrial globe, modelling methods of equipotential surfaces and data that can be used to develop them, the most important geoid models developed for the area of Poland and the world, the technique of determining the orthometric heights using various measuring methods. Heights of two measuring points, located on the premises of Wrocław University of Science and Technology, were determined to achieve thesis statement. The scope of the study is limited to determining the orthometric heights of points for three global geoid models and four geoid models developed for the area of Poland. Among the selected equipotential surfaces were: geoida niwelacyjna 2000, GUGiK 2001, GEOIDPOL 2008A/C/CN, PL-GEOID-2011, OSU91, EGM96 and EGM2008.

The anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) process is one of the most energy efficient and environmentally-friendly bioprocess for the treatment of the wastewater with high nitrogen concentration. The aim of this work was to study the influence of the high nitrogen loading rate (NLR) on the nitrogen removal in the laboratory-scale anammox sequencing batch reactor (SBR), during the shift from the synthetic wastewater to landfill leachate. In both cases with the increase of NLR from 0.5 to 1.1 – 1.2 kg N/m3d, the nitrogen removal rate (NRR) increases to about 1 kg N/m3d, but higher NLR caused substrates accumulation and affects anammox process efficiency. Maximum specific anammox activity was determined as 0.638 g N/g VSSd (NRR 1.023 kg N/m3d) and 0.594 g N/g VSSd (NRR 1.241 kg N/m3d) during synthetic and real wastewater treatment, respectively. Both values are similar and this is probably the nitrogen removal capacity of the used anammox biomass. This indicates, that landfill leachate did not influence the nitrogen removal capacity of the anammox process.

Shallow and vegetation-rich storage reservoirs can be a very important element of a hydrological network supporting specific fauna. However, their ecological potential for many insect groups is often neglected in hydrobiological studies in contrast to lakes. Therefore, caddisfly fauna was studied at different levels of its organization as well as environmental drivers of the species' distribution across three reservoirs (SE Poland). The species' composition and assemblages distinguishingly showed close relationships with the caddisfly fauna of meso- and eutrophic lakes. Quantitative naturalness index (Wns) of caddisfly fauna in all reservoirs was higher in comparison to this value obtained for regional lakes. Oxygen reduction potential, temperature, electrical conductivity (physical and chemical variables of water), shading, elodeids (structural variables of reservoirs) and the average distance to the nearest water bodies (landscape variables in buffer zones of reservoirs) were all significant for caddisflies in CCA models. Analysis of functional groups revealed two characteristic features of these habitats: the lack of rheophiles and an evenly balanced trophic structure. Shallow reservoirs, despite their origin and human intervention, can provide important secondary habitats for specific invertebrate fauna. Practical guidelines are also given concerning management practices favourable to aquatic biota.

We identified the beetle fauna of springs of a small lowland river and attempted to determine the direction and magnitude of beetle migration between the springs and neighboring water bodies in the river valley, as well as the local environmental factors and landscape parameters that most influence the character of aquatic beetle assemblages in the springs. We studied springs of three limnological types, along the entire length of the river valley, and identified 42 beetle species. All types of springs were dominated by stagnobiontic species, which enter springs from other aquatic environments, mainly via dispersion by air. We also found a small proportion of crenophiles and a substantial proportion of rheophiles and tyrphophiles, which was linked to the close proximity of the river and dystrophic water bodies. The fauna of the springs was affected to a similar degree by local environmental factors and by landscape factors acting on a broader scale. This indicates the need for broader consideration of landscape factors, which are often neglected in ecological studies.

The goal of the study was to identify the beetle fauna of a small lowland river valley against its spatial arrangement and the directions of beetle migrations between habitats, as well as to determine which environmental factors affect the characteristics of water beetle populations in a river valley's lentic water bodies. The field studies were carried out in various types of water bodies. 112 species of beetles with various ecological characteristics were identified. It was demonstrated that the diversity of water bodies in the valley is conducive to high local species richness. At the same time, the observed high degree of faunistic individualism may be regarded as a sign of poor symmetry in the directions of fauna propagation, particularly that of stagnobionts. The authors argue that high individualism is the consequence of poor hydrological contact between the water bodies due to topography and rare instances of high tide in the river, which, in turn, is the reason for active overflights remaining the main mean of migration between those water bodies. The factors restricting migration of fauna between the water bodies include certain landscape characteristics of the catchment which form topographical obstacles, mainly numerous and dense forest areas. The character of fauna in the respective types of water bodies is affected also by internal environmental factors, particularly the degree to which they are overgrown with macrophytes, type of bottom, type of mineral and organic matter as well as physical parameters of water, such as saturation, pH, temperature and biological oxygen demand.

Anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) is a process of ammonium and nitrite conversion into nitrogen gas. Nowadays, anammox is applied into many wastewater treatment plants worldwide. However, anammox bacteria are characterized by a slow growth rate, which may cause problems in maintaining the biomass in the system. The promising technique which can help to maintain the biomass in the reactor and effectively prevent loss of anammox bacteria from a system is immobilization. Selection and optimization of the appropriate immobilization technique for investigated biomass is crucial for conducting an effective process. One of the ways for bacteria immobilization is gel entrapment. The main goal of the study was to test sodium alginate as an immobilization medium for anammox biomass. In the present study procedure of immobilization in sodium alginate was optimised, then the mechanical and chemical properties of the obtained pellets were investigated. Series of batch experiments revealed that immobilized anammox biomass was able to remove ammonia and nitrite nitrogen effectively. The calculated specific anammox activity (SAA) for immobilized anammox biomass was 0.18 g N·gVSS-1·d-1, while for non-immobilized biomass was 0.36 g N·gVSS-1·d-1.