The paper presents the results of the research concerning vascular flora of a small town Maszewo, situated in Western Pomerania. The research work was realized in 8 spatial-functional complexes. In it one noticed 527 species of plants belonging to 76 families and 148 genera. The richest family in species is Asteraceae (52 species), and a spatial-functional complex C – the park in Maszewo; one noticed 229 species of plants in it. One mentioned a large ecologically-phytosociological differentiation in the flora of Maszewo; the results are shown in the present paper.

On the basis of 215 phytosociological records 4 associations from the class Lemnetea. The differentiation and composition is alike those described on the literature. Lemno-Spirodeletum variant z Lemna gibba, Wolffietum arrhizae, Riccietum fluitantis i Salvinietum natantis belong to rare associations found upon the area of Południowopodlaska Lowland.

Rivers constitute natural ecological corridors that allow plants and animals to move and occupy new territories, thus enabling them to exchange genes between distant populations. In 2002, in the north-west part of Wrocław, on 256.6 km of the Odra river course a construction of Millenium Bridge has been started. The building and utilisation of that bridge may cause undesirable changes in the natural environment of the river and adjacent areas. The most negative effects of roads connected with exploatation of the road network include: 1) animal road mortaility on the resulting from collisions with vehicles, 2) changes in animal behaviour, 3) changes in the chemical and physical environment due to the accumulation of chemical substances and 4) spreading of alien species of flora and fauna. The paper presents the results of quantitative studies on breeding bird fauna in the Odra embankment within the Millenium Bridge construction site, in the first two years of construction. The studies on birds were conducted using the transect method, on three sections of the embankment. In spite of intensive construction works that removed a part of high vegetation, no big changes were documented in breeding communities of birds living in the Odra embankment. In the second year of study in the whole area a 9% decrease in the number of species (from 45 to 41) and about 6% decrease in breeding pairs (from 120 to 113) were found.

The examinations were conducted on five brown bears of both sexes and different age and one polar bear male, 30 years old. Performing a section along the whole limb carried out the investigation of the thickness of the limb arterial walls. Specimens of the arteries were taken at a distance of 10 mm away from each other. This helped to establish the precise thickness of the arterial wall as well as determine what kinds of components are responsible for its structure. The presence of strong thickenings in the bear’s median artery, in the distal part of his antebrachium and in his metacarpus was proved. In the cranial tibial artery and saphenous artery the thickenings in question appear in the distal part of the crus. Inside those thickenings there are large gatherings of the circular muscle cells and across its small part there is a complete lack of the elastic fibres in the middle coat. Such a structure of the arterial wall makes it possible to regulate the degree of closure of the vessel’s lumen and helps to adjust the blood flow in accordance with the requirements and temperature of the environment.

The ears of winter wheat and triticale cultivars susceptible to S. avenae contained more of both essential as well as nonessential free amino acids. The statistical analysis proved the existence of positive correlations between the number of the aphids and the content of methionine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, aspartic acid, glycine and alanine in the winter wheat ears. In the case of triticale, only a negative correlation was found between the density of S. avenae and the content of isoleucine, whereas a positive correlation was revealed for glycine and serine.

In standing spring crops produced within the borders of Siedlce a strongly ruderal field community which was intermediate between the association of the orders Centauretalia cyani and Polygono-Chenopodietalia was found. The floristic diversity allowed to distinguish four forms of this phytocoenosis, i.e. the form from Spergula arvensis, a typical form, the form from Stellaria media, and the form from Lamium amplexicaule and Stellaria media. It was concluded that the main reasons for the occurrence of these types of phytocoenosis were the following factors: specyfic ecological conditions connected with the spring crop production, high dispersion of fields, and low level of agrotechny which made it easy for ruderal species to spread and settle.

Cephalanthera rubra belongs to the group of threatened taxa [Kaźmierczakowa, Zarzycki 2001] and is very seldom noted in central and north-eastern Poland. A new locality of the species was found in section 62 of the Drażniew-Ostromęczyn range of Sarnaki forest inspectorate. The studied area is situated in the western part of the „Podlaski Przełom Bugu” Landscape Park. The station of Cephalanthera rubra, composed of two tufts (9 and 4 specimens) is located in thin association of Tilio-Carpinetum typicum. Protection of the locality as a nature reserve is advisable due to large degree of community naturalness and presence of other protected and seldom noted species: Cimicifuga europaea, Lilium martagon, Neottia nidus-avis, Melittis melissophyllum and Viola mirabilis.

Characteristic of the locality of Orobanche caryophyllacea in the xerothermic grassland near Bohukały is given in the paper. The station is located in the area of the „Podlaski Przełom Bugu” Landscape Park.