Multidisciplinary research was carried on in 1978/79 in the region of Admiralty Bay and Arctowski Station. This area is representative of the near-shore Antarctic ecosystem. It is characterized by a number of local traits such as climate, ice conditions, hydrology, hydrochemistry and hydrodynamics. Estimates were made of primary production and abundance of zooplankton in Admiralty Bay and of the biomass and quantity of food taken by avi-fauna and pinnipeds. Main routes and directions of transport of mineral and organic matter are shown; some of them have been estimated quantitatively. A continuous inflow of organic matter from Bransfield Strait is necessary for the summer functionning of Admiralty Bay.

An investigation of cyanobacterial microflora in the northern, deglaciated part of James Ross Island in the NW part of the Weddell Sea, Antarctica , was conducted during the Antarctic summer season 2005-2006. Five main types of habitats with dominant cyanobacterial assemblages were analyzed (soils, seepages, streams, wetted rocky walls and lakes), and main ecological variables were measured (pH, temperature, intensity of global radiation, conductivity and nutrients), as a background for further ecological and ecophysiological studies. The definable traditional cyanobacterial morphospecies were identified.

The environmental assessment of the surface water quality of the Western Bug River has been made using the system of classification quality of land surface water of Ukraine in accordance with the approved methodology, which allows comparing water quality of separate areas of water objects of different regions. The calculation of the environmental as-sessment of water quality has been carried according to three blocks: block of salt composition, block of trophic and sapro-bic (ecological and sanitary) indicators and block of indicators of content of specific toxic substances. The results are pre-sented in the form of a combined environmental assessment, based on the final conclusions of the three blocks and consists in calculating the integral ecological index. Comprehensive studies of changes in the water quality of the Western Bug Riv-er have been conducted within the territory of Ukraine for a long-term period. The water quality of the river on the final values of the integral indicators of the ecological condition corresponded mainly to 4nd category of the 3rd class – the wa-ter is “satisfactory” by condition and “little polluted” by degree of purity (except for points of observation that located within the Volyn region, where the water quality corresponded to 3rd category and the 2nd class. It is “good” by condition and “fairly clean” by the degree of purity). Visualization and part of the analysis are performed using GIS technologies in the software of the ArcGIS 10.3.

The debate between Ludwik Fleck (microbiologist and philosopher of science) and Tadeusz Bilikiewicz (historian and philosopher of medicine) took place shortly before the outbreak of World War II and remained virtually unnoticed until 1978. A wider recognition of their exchange was possible only after the English and German translations appeared. Basically, the polemics concerned understanding of the concept of style and influence that the environment exerted on scientific activity and its products. The polemic started with the review of Bilikiewicz’s book Die Embryologie im Zeitalter des Barock und des Rokoko (1932) where the historical account of the development of embryology in the early and late Baroque period was interwoven with bold sociological remarks. The commentators of the debate were quick to notice that the claims made by Fleck at that time were crucial for understanding of his position, especially because they let to interpret his views in a non-relativist way. While the importance of the controversy was univocally acknowledged, its assessment so far has been defective for two reasons. First, for decades the views of Bilikiewicz were known only from the short and rather critical presentation given by Fleck and this put their discussion into an inadequate perspective. Second, for over 40 years it remained a complete puzzle what prompted their exchange of views. This paper closes these gaps. Thus, on the one hand, I reconstruct the central issue of the disputation between Fleck and Bilikiewicz and situate it within the context of Bilikiewicz’s views. On the other hand – and this is more important – I try to explain the origin of their debate by quoting some recently discovered and unpublished archival materials. A review of their correspondence gives me an opportunity to advance some hypotheses about the aims and hopes connected with their project but also possible reasons for its failure.