Scientific activities
The teears existence of the Institute has created an interdisciplinary and unconventional research methodology. This method has been used to deepen the knowledge about general ecology. The knowledge acquired has been used to solve many important environmental issues. The institute also plans to document its scientific discoveries for wider audience consumption through scientific publications. The scope of the institute’s research areas includes: Agricultural ecology, water ecology and renewable energy uses.
The greatest potential for research at the Institute is its agricultural farm – 500 ha of various agricultural land conducted in accordance with the requirements of organic farming. The farm has a rich diversity of soils and a fascinating biodiversity of plants and animals. Everything is varied by many forms of surface water such as ditches, natural watercourses, ponds, marshes, bogs. One of the important advantages of our land is the fact that it is surrounded almost on all sides by forests. This factor has protected our ecology farm from the effects of agricultural practices used in the neighboring farms. The neighborhood of forest helps to improve biological biodiversity, reduce wind erosion. It has positive impact on microclimate and creates a wonderful landscape field-forest or meadow-forest. These have created great advantages for livestock farming. The most valuable are bisons living in conditions similar to their natural habitat in an area covering about 50 ha. Other animals are beef cattle, currently about 200 units. The institute also conducts intensive breeding of pigs. Cultivation of animal at our institute are modeled in an ecological friendly ways where animals live in a condition similar to their natural environment. The institute cultivates various crops every year, which are mainly produced and used for animal feed. One of the promising aspects of the farming at our institute is the production of vegetables with the application of natural manures).
Activities on our farm are executed in strict compliance to the ecology friendly principles. This is achieved through research and some basic understanding of the literature on the subject matter. The activities of the institute are aimed at:
- acquiring and consolidating knowledge,
- the implementation of innovative agricultural practices while continuing improvement in management efficiency,
- increasing economic efficiency,
- improving natural productivity of used soils,
- optimizing the use of water in crop production,
- eliminating the negative impact of crop production on groundwater and surface water
- maintaining even improvement on the natural wealth of biological biodiversity.
Apart from the described activities, various investigations are conducted in our laboratory to analyze the physiochemical quality of water and soil. Furthermore, the Institute possesses great research potential related to water and wastewater treatment.
• The institute uses its premises to provide solution for obtaining clean water from its waste water. These processes have been existing for over 10 years and it has brought new solution through its various research activities, experiments and implementation.
• During the institute’s ten year existence, it has designed over four thousand natural sewage treatment plants and water treatment stations.. One of the recently executed projects is the construction of multipurpose solutions for the training center in Jesionka (Nowa Sól district) , where the dual drains are used in the building and there are two separate technological lines with the use of treated water for flushing toilets at the center and watering of green around. All these facilities are perfect places to conduct research using natural methods for water treatment and the efficiency in the removal of various pollutants from wastewater. The above applies to all the effectiveness of removal of organic pollutants, nutrients and health such as bacteria, viruses and micro-organisms from animal sources. It is also interesting to note the possibilities of tracking water quality are re-used.
• Surface and ground water around the Institute land and in its immediate neighborhood such as lakes, natural reaches of rivers, watercourses, ditches, bogs are good site for carrying out research.. Water present in these areas is closely linked to their drainage areas, which are often managed in a natural way. This creates the possibility of conducting research on the basic circuit elements such as nitrogen, phosphorus, calcium, potassium, iron, manganese, and sulfur in natural ecosystems. In Lińska Struga river catchment, several monitoring wells were established to monitor and study changes in water level and composition of ground water. For the purpose of this research a weather station was installed at the institute. The data obtained has provided an insight on the annual changes in groundwater. This has provided new and interesting information on water circulation.
The third potential research area relates to the rational use of renewable energy sources. Ten years ago the institute installed photovoltaic Cells, which serves as a major source of electricity for the Institute. Current production is supported by a windmill and burning biomass, which represents a timber for the production of heat and vegetable oil to supplement the shortage of electricity and heat. The last source of energy used in the institute is a solar energy converted into solar collectors to thermal energy. All the energy system components are constantly monitored. The data from the meteorological station assist the basis for assessing the efficiency of production, storage and use of energy in the Institute. All together, the modern research workshop has provided good basics to learn the pros and cons of various local forms of power generation from renewable sources and the principles of rational use. This institute has successfully provided it own energy, water treatment facility for water recycling and, sewage treatment plants.