Quaternary Geoecology Research Group
Head of the research group: dr hab. Maciej T. Krajcarz
Institute of Geological Sciences, Polish Academy of Sciences
Research Center in Warsaw
Twarda 51/55, 00-818 Warsaw
tel.: (48) 22 6978 742
e-mail: mkrajcarz@twarda.pan.pl
The Quaternary Geoecology Research Team (GeoEco) was formally established in January 2025. However, the team had collaborated long before, within the Stable Isotope Laboratory and, to some extent, the Bioindicator Laboratory and the Uranium-Thorium Laboratory, as well as on joint research projects. In November 2025, the Institute's restructuring affected also the GeoEco, formally dividing it into two organizational units: the research unit, the Quaternary Geoecology Research Team, from the technical support unit, the Stable Isotope Laboratory.
Our interests focus on the geological record of element circulation in biogeosystems, with the aim of better understanding the functioning of past and present ecosystems. Our research is interdisciplinary, combining geochemistry, biogeology, and geoarchaeology. The methodological basis of our research is isotopic analyses of light elements (H, C, N, O, Cl, S), as well as analyses of chemical composition. We specialize in animal remains (bones, teeth, shells, coprolites), but we also study clastic sediments, guano, mineral precipitates, concretions, and water. We expand our research toward the geological context of the studied materials, including stratigraphic, chronological, and sedimentological contexts. We apply statistical processing and mathematical modeling to our results. We primarily focus on archaeological sites, but we also study karst systems (including cave deposits), paleontological sites, and contemporary anthropogenic ecosystems.
We maintain close cooperation with other units of the Institute (especially the Uranium-Thorium Laboratory, the Environmental Geochemistry Research Team and the Environment Change Research Team), as well as with national research units (including the Faculty of Geology, University of Warsaw; the Faculty of Archaeology, University of Warsaw; the CeNT, University of Warsaw; the Institute of Archaeology, Nicolaus Copernicus University; the Faculty of Geology, Geophysics and Environmental Protection, AGH University of Science and Technology; the Faculty of Earth Sciences and Spatial Management, Maria Curie-Skłodowska University; the Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Silesia; the Institute of Paleobiology PAS; the Mammal Research Institute PAS;, the Institute of Systematics and Evolution of Animals PAS) and foreign ones (including: GFZ Postdam, Germany; Universität Tübingen, Germany; Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Kazakhstan; Inštitut za raziskovanje krasa ZRC SAZU, Slovenia).
Team members:
PhD students:
Fellows and visitors:
Stable Isotope Laboratory:
The Quaternary Geoecology Research Team is closely bound with the Stable Isotope Laboratory, which specializes primarily in the analysis of the isotopic composition of carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, and sulfur in a wide range of samples. Read more >>
Current research projects:
Project title: | Primary Investigator at IGS PAS | Funding body and project duration |
| Variability of carbon and nitrogen isotopic baselines in Quaternary terrestrial ecosystems | Dr. hab. Maciej Krajcarz | National Science Centre, Poland, OPUS, 2025-2029 |
| Comprehensive geochemical-sedimentological characterization of sedimentation and diagenesis conditions in a cave biogeosystem | Dr. hab. Maciej Krajcarz | Statutory grant IGS PAS, 2024-2025 |
Effect of leaching of natural phosphorus minerals from sedimentary rocks on the trophic potential of surface waters in selected areas of the Vistula and Bug interfluve | Dr. Beata Gebus-Czupyt | National Science Centre, Poland, OPUS, 2021-2026 |
The multi-proxy studies of dedolomitization processes and related speleogenesis in central Slovenia with implications for understanding of incipient stages of sulphide mineralizations in southern Poland | Dr. Beata Gebus-Czupyt | National Science Centre, Poland, OPUS, 2021-2025 |
Oxygen isotopes in conodonts from Baltica as indicators of Ordovician climate change | Dr. Alicja Wudarska | National Science Centre, Poland, OPUS, 2024-2028 |
Micro-stratigraphic and multi-method approach to tackling biogenic deposits: The case study of Biśnik Cave (Poland) | Dr. Greta Brancaleoni | National Science Centre, Poland, MINIATURA, 2024-2025 |
| Development of new reference materials for boron and sulfur isotope analyses of apatite | Dr. Alicja Wudarska | International Association of Geoanalysts, 2023-2025 |
