Paweł Buczyński
I was born in 1971 in Lublin (south-eastern Poland). In this city I
completed the Unia Lubelska High School (1990) and I graduated the University
of Maria Curie-Skłodowska with the diploma in general biology (1995).
I got the master of science degree on the basis of the work called "Dragonflies
(Odonata) of selected peat bogs of the Poleski National Park and its
surroundings" (professor conferring the degree: prof. dr hab. Zdzisław
Cmoluch). In 1993-1994 I received training in the Department of Zoology
of the University of Maria Curie-Skłodowska. I have been working in
this department since July 1995 - in the years 1995-2002 as an assistant,
since 2002 as an assistant professor - after receiving Ph.D. degree
in biological sciences on the basis of Ph.D. thesis "Dragonflies
(Insecta: Odonata) of high and transitional peat bogs in middle-eastern
Poland" (2001, professor conferring the degree: prof. UMCS dr hab.
Jacek Łętowski). I teach zoology and hydrobiology.
When I was a student I was very keen on vertebrate zoology and palaeontology.
But my first and the biggest love till today has been dragonflies. Due
to their physical beauty I was interested in dragonflies during first
years of my university education, beginning from simple faunistics -
very important in my region of Poland for it was not systematically
studied from several dozen of years. Next, my interests extended for
varied aspects of zoogeography, biology, ecology and protection of this
beautiful and fascinating group of insects. My research encompasses
the area of the whole Poland, in co-operation with colleagues from Minsk
and Olsztyn - Belarus as well.
I am devoted to dragonflies as the editor of the "Odonatrix"
bulletin and the activist of Odonatological Section of the Polish Entomological
Society. I try to popularize this insect group in discussions, in the
Internet and in popular scientific papers. Partially thanks to the work
of mine as well as my colleagues from other scientific centres (mainly
Rafał Bernard, Grzegorz Tończyk, Andrzej Łabędzki), dragonflies have
become the subject of interest of pupils and students. Some of them
prospective assistants and Ph. D. students - may instil the dragonfly
studies into the next universities or academies. The others may be the
future of a very useful amateur movement. The number of Polish odonatologists
has increased from a few to about 20 in last a dozen or so years.
Except for dragonflies I am interested in other aquatic animals - mainly
beetles, to a lesser degree - water bugs, caddisflies, leeches and sponges.
These interests are a "side effect" of collecting dragonflies
- the gathered aquatic material can not be wasted! Particularly interesting
are beetles - in the cooperation with Marek Przewoźny I have accomplished
many fascinating scientific projects.
As for leeches - I got friendly with them in other way. My physical
features (190 cm, weight -100 kg) cause that I prefer "gym shoe
style" in the field - I avoid using gum-boots and paddling in waters
in gym shoes and shorts. My calves were particularly attractive to a
rare and endangered medicine leech (Hirudo medicinalis) which fed on
me a couple of times. I started to collect the data on its distribution,
and during collecting hydrobiological samples - put aside other species.
And so it started… In cooperation with professor Aleksander Bielecki
from the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn the collaborative
study of my materials has been prepared.
I have published about 280 scientific, popular scientific and popular
papers so far. If somebody is interested my papers- feel free to ask.
Publications list in pdf format:
