Zygmunt Koźmiński

During years 1922-1924, Białowieża had a growing zoological library at the recently created museum of nature. While taking advantage of it, Koźmiński encountered Dahl’s zoogeography elaborated on ecological grounds. This book was one of the factors having impact on Koźmiński at the time, directing him towards ecological issues and studies on quantitative presence of fauna. It is worth underlining that in his work devoted to Orthoptera of Białowieża Forest one can find deliberations on (relative) quantitative presence of these insects, since quantitative studies were a rarity in entomology at the time. In his study of Orthoptera biocenoses, Koźmiński achieved results that could constitute a manifestation of entry into the field of terrestrial fauna ecology studies [2] and complete dedication to it.

The works of Koźmiński described above, originating from his early university student life, have been cited on multiple occasions in zoological literature.

His later works, starting with the doctoral dissertation from 1927, written at the Zoology Department of the University of Warsaw, which was led at the time by Prof. Konstanty Janicki, Ph.D., introduced him into the scope of studies of freshwater fauna and hydrobiology.

The above mentioned doctoral dissertation, entitled “O zmienności oczlików z grupy Cyclops strenuus na podstawie badań ilościowych” (“On variability of Cyclops species belonging to the Cyclops strenuus group based on quantitative studies”), constitutes the first study in this scope, which later become one of Koźmiński’s main scientific directions. Initially the subject matter of the paper was described very modestly. Namely, it aimed at explaining the systematic value of two forms (alpha and beta) of the Cyclops strenuus Fischer species distinguished by Gajl (1924). In the course of Koźmiński’s attempts at tackling this subject, the study grew to enormous proportions, shadowing the initial intent that was indicated to him as the topic of his doctoral thesis.

Cyclops strenuus F. may be the most popular species among freshwater Cyclops of Europe. According to the data from the literature, it appears in tremendously varied environments, e.g. in the mountains and in lowlands, in deep lakes and in small drying out springtime water reservoirs, in bogs, and even in wells. The views on the systematic value of C. strenuus F. were not established, however, and the nature of its variability remained unexplained. This made it impossible to include this important element of freshwater fauna in ecological and zoogeographical deliberations. According to Koźmiński, solving this issue required using such a method that would finally dispel any accumulated doubts and unveil the true state of affairs. To him, that method was quantitative studies, which led to objective, numerical presentation of systematic characteristics of the forms studied. Koźmiński entered on his own the field of morphometric studies and introduced to it his own method of “antagonistic characteristics”, which as later employed by other authors as well (cf. e.g. Ischreyt 1930). 

The period of preparing abundant material with regard to Cyclops from C. strenuus F. group in years 1925 and 1926 was marked by extremely painstaking effort of taking 16 000 measurements and performing a large number of mathematical calculations – and all of this without any machine to help in computations. The study discussed consists of 101 numerical tables and 22 graphs. This work required a great deal of attention and methodically organised effort and consumed all the days and evenings of that young man, 25 years old at the time. Koźmiński maintained a uniformly intensive and continuous flow of his work, characteristic of him throughout his lifetime. It stemmed from the stringent requirements he set for himself, as well as his continuously active enthusiasm for  scientific work.

Koźmiński was carrying out ecological and morphometric studies of Cyclopidae also in further years 1927— 1934, leading him to create a cycle of works devoted to this subject matter [3, 6, 7, 7a, 9, 10].

Obtaining interesting material from the subalpine Lunz lake in Austria resulted in conducting a deeper study on Cyclops strenuus tatricus, which, in turn, led to this form being considered a separate species (1932), present in numerous lakes of Tatras and Alps, in contrast to the former view on alleged presence of one and the same species – C. strenuus F. – both in the mountains and in the lowlands.

His works from years 1933 and 1936 [7, 8] are even more mature than the 1927 study. They are fundamental for becoming acquainted with freshwater copepods and the methodology of studying them. They also undermine the view that  very significant individual, local, and seasonal variability of C. strenuus group forms existed, demonstrating that this variability is in fact an expression of systematic differentiation, thus bringing an end to the notional chaos regarding the systematics of this species group.

However, what deserves the attention of wider circles of zoologists is the morphometric part of the paper from 1933. The author of the “antagonistic characteristics” method introduces to the reader the methodology of morphometric studies and provides an example of applying it to his own, specific material. We learn from that paper that, contrary to the universally prevalent opinion, Cyclops females are morphologically well varied to the same extent that the males are. Additionally, the paper indicates that the specimens originating from environments subject to significant fluctuation of their fundamental characteristics exhibit greater morphological variability than those originating from more stable environments. The local and seasonal differences among Cyclops from the C. strenuus group are nearly of the same extent as the morphological differences that are an expression of individual variability. Both the seasonal and individual variability do not erase the above mentioned extraordinary differences of systematic value arising between the species described by Koźmiński and the representatives of lower rank taxons. The works of Koźmiński discuss, among others: Cyclops tatricus Koźmiński, C. bohater Koźmiński, C. scutifer wigrensis Koźmiński, C. strenuus vranae Koźmiński  and C. strenuus landei Koźmiński.

The ecological characteristics confirmed strikingly the separateness of species and forms distinguished by way of morphological studies. From the ubiquitous – as it had been previously thought – presence of C. strenuus F. emerged the image of ecological diversification of a series of species and forms, which was shown on the maps from the Wigry lake in the paper from 1934.

In 1947, when the pulse of scientific work in Europe was still weakened by the recently ended war, I came across the paper of Knut Lindberg from distant India, who – surely having now knowledge of Koźmiński’s death at the time – dedicated a newly described species to him with the following words:

“Cyclops koźmiński nova species. J'ai nommé cette espèce intéressante et très remarąuable en honneur du savant polonais Zygmunt Koźmiński, envers lequel tous ceux qui étudient le sous genre Cyclops s. str. on contracté une dette de reconnaissance durable." (Rec. of the Indian Mus., 44, 1942).

The paper from 1927 was the last work of Koźmiński from his Warsaw period, as in that precise year he took the position of an assistant, and later an adjunct, at the Hydrobiology Station at Wigry lake, where he settled permanently.

His departure to Wigry lake was considered a bold move by many of his colleagues who remained in Warsaw, as the Hydrobiology Station was located then in a small wooden house, devoid of both sufficient equipment for scientific work and elementary residential amenities. The stay at the Station, located in the wilderness at the distant countryside, provided lone existence conditions, contrasting with those of the Warsaw community. Nevertheless, Koźmiński entered the rough framework of his new life without losing his psychological balance even for a moment.

The work conditions at the Wigry Station were very hard for scientific work at that time, also due to the fact that a new Hydrobiology Station building was being erected at the other end of the Wigry lake, in the distance of about 20 km from the temporary Station building. That construction site had to be continuously supervised, which involved numerous trips, and later, in the winter season, some of the most delicate scientific instruments were transported in hand while riding on a sleigh. One has to bear in mind that the modern new building of the Station – housing pools and featuring large aquariums built into the internal walls, as well as having its own electrical and gas system – was built with non-professional hands of countryside craftsmen. This required constant personal supervision over a variety of technical matters.

The Hydrobiology Research Station was built in countryside wilderness and lived its peculiar life, causing sensation among the local population. Koźmiński became bound to it to such an extent that it would be difficult to imagine its activity without him, without his constant effort in aid of the Station, and without his admirable inborn tact, which always allowed him to emerge victorious from certain difficult and often unpleasant and troublesome situations.

The tasks of the Hydrobiology Station personnel included not only editing, but also publishing the “Archiwum Hydrobiologii i Rybactwa” (“Archives of Hydrobiology and Fishing”) magazine. Koźmiński took it upon himself to handle a significant portion of that work. It was not the kind of editing and publishing work that people living in big city conditions know. Typesetters working in the countryside towns in the neighbourhood of the Wigry Station were not prepared for the kind of precision work that scientific magazine printing required. It forced Koźmiński to visit the printing house frequently in order to choose the right fonts and making countless corrections on the spot. Next to technical editorship, Koźmiński also handled substantive editorship for many years. However, he was not listed among the editors of “Archiwum Hydrobiologii i Rybactwa".

However, the actual value of the Hydrobiology Station was based upon the scientific production of its personnel, not solving technical difficulties correctly, after all. Koźmiński was a person who carried out continuous and intensive scientific work at the Station for a very long time. It has to be mentioned here that he persisted at the Wigry station in spite of clearly insufficient remuneration and terrible irregularity with which it was paid, sometimes making it impossible for him to meet his most fundamental personal needs. However, it was unlike him to disseminate the kind of details of his personal life that I disclose here.

Koźmiński was striving to master such a scope of hydrobiological issues and, in consequence, related methodology that would allow him to work in various directions in the wide field of hydrobiology. In his scientific works we can find, next to ecological and systematic-zoological studies, also the studies devoted to thermal conditions, chemism, and finally presence of chlorophyll in lakes.

Koźmiński started his work on physicochemical properties of water reservoirs with an essay devoted to methodology of hydrochemical studies [8]. We can find in it some deliberations over the notion of oxygen deficit, critical discussion of the method of its calculation, and examination of the thesis that the only rational way of proceeding is to calculate the actual, absolute oxygen deficit based on the individual properties of a given lake, with the said examination being made in reference to the Wigry lake. In 1932, Koźmiński published an interesting paper [5] devoted to the Hańcza lake - the deepest lake in Poland and within the whole lowlands of Central Europe - and makes an attempt at explaining the appearance of oxygen maximum in the epilimnion of this lake during summertime.

It took Koźmiński and Wiszniewski a few years spent at Wigry Station to collect the materials for their study of temperatures occurring in the sub-ice layers of water during the pre-spring period. The complex issue of occurrence of a peculiar course of temperatures related to chemical stratification resulted in clarification leading to interesting generalisations, for, according to the authors, the character of the thermal curve is a consequence of chemical and optical features of a given lake and the climate conditions in which it is located (1935).

Performing this study, distinguished by Hutchinson in an independent item of the chapter devoted to thermal conditions in “Treatise on Limnology" (1957), required a lot of personal courage on part of the authors when it comes to their work, which was carried out on brittle springtime ice of the Wigry lake and included treks to the lake centre, distant from the shore, where the temperature measurements were performed. The transparent and always unsafe springtime ice required performing any work on it with maximum safety measures, which the authors of the paper on sub-ice thermal conditions had no possibility to apply. We learn about the application of such measures from works of other, post-war scientists, who performed thermal measurements on the springtime ice of lakes, following in the footsteps of Koźminski and Wiszniewski, and underlined in their writing the danger to which they were exposed while doing that.

One of the fundamental contemporary issues of interest in hydrobiology is the intensity of living matter production in water reservoirs. The typology of lakes, constituting one of the expressions of synthetic hydrobiological thought, is based to a significant extent on the notion of lake trophic state. The last paper of Koźmiński, published in print in 1938, is devoted to determination of chlorophyll quantity in lake water, aiming at learning the intensity of living matter production in lakes. For there is an obvious relationship between the chlorophyll content in the reservoir water and the production of phytoplankton. Coming out of this assumption, Koźmiński was the first to employ determination of chlorophyll levels in freshwater based on his own method, performing it in Polish lakes (1935) and in the lakes of the State of Wisconsin in the USA (1937). In the methodological approach of Koźmiński, plankton was isolated on a supercentrifuge, and after chlorophyll was dissolved in acetone, its levels were determined using the Pulfrich photometer. This is how Koźmiński started a series of papers devoted to presence of chlorophyll in freshwater, which have been published after his death until the present day. These works and an expression of attempts to determine the so-called primary productivity in lakes, similarly to the recently applied method based on measurement of assimilated carbon in a specific volume of water using C14 radioactive carbon. It is also necessary to underline that the issue of primary productivity still remains nowadays, over 20 years after Koźmiński’s introduction of the chlorophyll method for studying lakes, a major issue in hydrobiology. Working on the lake chlorophyll levels in the USA was made possible for Koźmiński by the limnology laboratory at the Trout Lake in Wisconsin, which was then under the management of Prof. C. Juday.

Professor Juday sent the National Culture Fund in Warsaw, the institution that enabled Koźmiński to go to the USA, his thanks for having such a valuable researcher referred to his laboratory. It went far beyond the framework of customary courtesies in scientific relationships.

In order to provide an example of scientific texts of Koźmiński that will illustrate their character well, we will quote some fragments from the introduction to his paper on chlorophyll in lakes from 1938:

„One of the more serious obstacles for studies on the productivity of lakes ... is the difficulty of quantitative evaluation of that part of lake biocenosis that handles production of the organic substance, i.e. green plants. Quantitative studies on the lake flora have been performed for a long time and provided, as a result, a great deal of valuable material regarding the distribution of plant specimens of various species in lakes. There is also no shortage of attempts at quantitative evaluation of the organic mass forming both the lake macroflora and the phytoplankton, carried out by means of approximated evaluation of specimen mass and appropriate multiplication thereof. Finally, there is a great deal of studies on the content of organic substance in total plankton determined by way of gravimetric analysis of its dry mass and the loss after burning.

The results of these painstaking studies, often encumbered by a quite significant methodological error, bring about a lot of valuable material from other points of view, but they are difficult to use for the purposes of evaluating the intensity of the lake organic substance creation process. The reasons for this unfavourable state of events lie, first and foremost, in the heterogeneity of the material obtained. As we know, the algae that constitute phytoplankton are generally capable of living autotrophically or heterotrophically depending on external conditions, mainly on the amount of light available. Meanwhile, phytoplankton is clearly the main provider of organic substance in larger and deeper lakes. Thus, even the most precise systematic analysis and calculation of number of phytoplankton specimens in different layers of the lake provides biologically non-uniform material as a result... The material based on gravimetric analysis of plankton after burning is even more difficult to use for our purposes. Here the overall mass of organic substance consists not only of auto- and heterotrophic algae, but also animal organisms, bacteria, and organic tripton in quantities that cannot be estimated even in approximation when this method is used.

The above considerations provide sufficient justification for attempts at finding a method that would allow a more direct insight into the dynamics of the lake organic substance creation process dynamics. Modern limnology has found, it seems, the right way to achieve the above goal. It consists in experimental research of photosynthetic and respiratory activity of plant and animal populations in sealed glass containers, lowered to different lake depths... The above research, combined with advancing knowledge of lighting conditions in water, bodes well for the future”.

While appreciating fully the significance of the above studies, the author attempted to approach the same issue from a different perspective. Experimental works, while having a lot of advantages, also have the disadvantage of creating more or less artificial living conditions which have to be compared somewhat carefully with natural conditions. Thus, it seemed purposeful and interesting to learn the quantities and distribution of the substance which takes active and direct part in the photosynthesis process and without which this process is most likely impossible, and to do that in natural conditions. This substance is chlorophyll.

The studies on quantity and vertical distribution of chlorophyll in phytoplankton of different lake types began in 1935 at the Wigry lake and originally regarded only net plankton. When the author received the possibility of working at the lakes of north-eastern Wisconsin, he decided to continue this research.

Koźmiński’s portfolio, stored in his always active scientific workshop, contained an abundance of unpublished materials, all of which have become lost forever as a result of war and occupation events. They included materials regarding the systematics of Copepoda from the  C. strenuus group originating from various areas of the Palearctic realm, the Copepoda collected from the US lakes, materials with data on presence of phosphorus in the bodies of plankton organisms, and, finally, also unpublished materials regarding presence of oxygen in lakes.

Koźmiński’s production of popular science writing was limited to the articles published in “Wszechświat” (“Universe”). They were either directly related to his scientific work or touched upon his memories from past scientific travels. These articles had only one deficiency - they were not popular enough. At the same time, they provided a perspective interesting even to specialists.  These popular articles were the texts in which Koźmiński’s excellent correctness of language and easiness of use of abundant vocabulary were the most apparent. Underlining the language culture of Koźmiński is what complements his characterisation well. Sometimes he expressed his attitude towards linguistic scientific fields, stating that linguistics would be the second most interesting field of study to him, the first being hydrobiology.

It would be far from a casual statement to underline that whatever Koźmiński did was always confidently perceived by others as made in the most responsible way possible. It was this characteristic of his that resulted in his good reputation at school, his excellent reputation during university studies, his important standing as a scientist, and – in a wholly different field – his excellent reputation in the military. Namely, in Szkoła Podchorążych (Officer Cadets School), from which he graduated with excellent grades as a reserve lieutenant.

Koźmiński was one of the central characters of Polish hydrobiology. It was certain to everyone that he would always carry out fruitful scientific work in the field of his choice, irrespective of any external difficulties. In honour of his memory, his colleagues decided to name two species of aquatic organisms after him. These are Encentrum koźmińska Wiszniewski, the only rotifer known so far that parasitises fish (and the only rotifer parasitising vertebrates in general), and Varsoviella koźmińska Gieysztor et Wiszniewski — a rotifer parasitising the gill plates of Gammarus ischnus, which can be found in Vistula river near Warsaw.

Koźmiński died aged 37 during the initial period of World War II, on 2nd of October 1939, while leading an infantry company on the outskirts of Lwów. He left no material memorabilia as the Wigry Hydrobiology Station - his place of residence - has been devastated. Meanwhile, it is by exceptional coincidence that we have an account of the last days of his life from a member of his company, Eugeniusz Grabda, Ph.D., a naturalist and zoologist, nowadays a professor of Wyższa Szkoła Rolnicza (Higher College of Agriculture) and its rector. It is from him that we know that Koźmiński enjoyed tremendous respect in the company he commanded. When he received a severe gunshot wound on 17th of September 1939, the soldiers took him away from the gunfire, using a door as an improvised stretcher. Having his legs paralysed and suffering from physical pain, he called upon his subordinates to continue defending the city. 

He died on 2nd of October.

This is how this extraordinary intellect was destroyed by a barbaric war aggression – a primitive physical force. Meanwhile, Koźmiński’s complete and conscious willingness to give his life in defence of his country is a manifestation of intangible values. It is also why an honourable soldier’s death has been valued so highly for centuries in our country plagued by war.

Marian Gieysztor

Obituary note    Zygmunt Koźmiński was born in 1902. Alter receiving the degree of philosophy doctor at the University of Warsaw in 1927 he joined the staff of the Hydrobiological Station at Wigry Lake where he was very active as well in research work as in the organization of new laboratories. Together with Li t y n s k i, the Director of the Hydrobiological Station, he was one of the chief organizers of the Station and member of the editorial board of the first Polish hydrobiological periodical „Archiwum Hydrobiologii i Rybactwa" (Archives of Hydrobiology and Fishery). 

As a student of the University of Warsaw Koźmiński published his first investigations on some reptiles, amphibia and Locusts of the Białowieża Forests and on the ecological conditions of their life. Later studies which made his name well known among the hydrobiologists was an application of biometrical methods to the systematics of Coppedoda. His other investigations concerned thermal and chemical relationships in lakes and a pioneering attempt to measure the primary production of lakes. In connection with this problem are his studies on quantitative estimation of chlorophyll in Wigry Lake and in Trout Lake (Wisconsin, USA). 

In 1935 Koźmiński was appointed Docent at the University of Wilno.  In 1939 he passed into the army and was killed in a fight against German army near Lwów.

LIST OF WORKS OF Z. KOŹMIŃSKI   1923

1. The Amphibians and Reptiles Fauna of the Białowieża Forest. Białowieża, 2.

1925

2. Ökologische Untersuchungen an Orthopteren des Urwalds von Białowieża. Bull. Acad. Pol. Sc.  1927

3. Uber die Variabilität der Cyclopiden aus der strenuus Gruppe auf Grund von quantitativen Untersuchungen. Ibid. Suppl., 1. 

1929  4. Few more words on the Amphibian and Reptiles of the Białowieża-Forest. Sprawoz. Kom. Fizjogr. PAU, 63. 

1932 5. O stosunkach tlenowych w Jeziorze Hańcza na Suwalszczyźnie. Arch. Hydro- biol. i Ryb., 6, 65—81.  6. Über die systematische Stellimg von „Cyclops strenuus" aus den Gebirgsseen. Ibid. 6. 140—151. 

1933 7. Badania morfometryczne i ekologiczne nad oczlikami (Cyclopidae) z grupy strenuus. Ibid., 7, 59—137, 138—140.  8. O sposobie obliczania deficytu tlenowego w jeziorach suwalskich. Ibid., 7, 144—163. 

1934 9. Über die morphologische Gruppierung der arten des Subgenus Cyclops. Mem. Ac. Pol. Sc.  10. Über die Ökologische Verteilung einiger limnetischer Cyclopiden in den Wigryseen. Verh. Int. Ver. Limnol., 6. 

1935 11. Über die Eigentümlichkeitein des Zooplanktons des Ohridsees. Ibid.  12. (z J. Wiszniewskim). Über die Vorfrühlingsthermik der Wigry-Seen. Arch. Hydrobiol. 28. 

1936 13. Morphometrische und ökologische Untersuchungen an Cyclopiden der strenuus — Gruppe, Int. Rev. Hydrobiol. 33. 

1937

14. Przyczynek do znajomości fauny Copepoda (Calanoida i Cyclopoida Gnathostoma) Zahorynia (Polesie). Arch. Hydrobiol. i Ryb., 10, 413—422. 

1938

15. Amount and distribution of the chlorophyll in some lakes of Northeastern Wisconsin. Trans. Acad. Wisc. Sc. Arts. Lett., 31.       16. O rozmieszczenie chlorofilu w niektórych jeziorach stanu Wisconsin w Ameryce Północnej. Arch. Hydrobiol. i Ryb., 11, 120—163.    NOTES, OBITUARIES

1930

17. Jezioro Wigierskie jako teren badań naukowych. Wszechświat.

1933

18. O termice jeziornej. Ibid.

1934

19. (z J. Wiszniewskim). Wycieczka limnologiczna dookoła Jugosławii. Ibid.

1936

20. O gospodarce tlenowej jezior. Ibid.

1936

21. O pojezierzu pn.-wsch. Wisconsinu w Ameryce Północnej. Ibid. 

1937

22. Z pracowni limnologicznej nad Trout Lake. Wisconsin. USA (From the limnology laboratory at Trout Lake. Wisconsin.  USA). Ibid. 

NOTATKI, NEKROLOGI     1926

23. Badania nad zespołami owadów prostoskrzydłych w Puszczy. Księga Pamiątkowa XII Zjazdu Lekarzy i Przyrodników Polskich.

1930  24. Śp. ppłk dr St. M. Krzysik. Arch. Hydrobiol. i Ryb. 4, 334—335.  25. (z J. Wiszniewskim). VI Międzynarodowy Kongres Limnologiczny. Wszechświat.

1934 26. Hydrobiologische Station am Wigrysee. Int. Rev. ges. Hydrobiologie.  27. Śp. Einar Naumann. Wszechświat.  28. Kazimierz Gajl. Wspomnienie pośmiertne. Arch. Hydrobiol. i Ryb., 8, 289—292.