Wiktoria Rajewicz

Aquatic monitoring with living sensors

In 2024 Wiktoria Rajewicz completed her PhD with the focus on animal behaviour and physiology in the context of underwater monitoring systems. Her focus was Daphnia, a small planktonic crustacean, known for being an excellent bioindicator. Studying its behaviour was expanded upon with the use of automated observation. Daphnia’s swimming behaviour provides an insight into the very complex natural water habitats. This way, we can read the overall water quality and the well-being of the organisms inhabiting the lake. The dissertation focused on developing the methodology for using this concept for long-term automated monitoring and moving with observation into the field.