The Department provides teaching in the degree programme Biology (Bachelor and Master’s programmes for single major degrees and in combination with another major). In addition to these specialized programmes, the Master’s programme offers the possibility to obtain a teaching qualification for teaching biology at elementary and secondary schools.

The instruction in the majority of the programmes is carried out in the form of full-time studies. The Applied Ecology programme is also available as distance learning. In adult education, we offer three-term and six-term supplementary studies of biology.

In addition to traditional forms of instruction such as lectures, students acquire experimental skills both in laboratories and during field excursions within the Czech Republic and abroad. They can expand their knowledge of botany by studying exhibits in the botanical garden, with greenhouse exhibits of subtropical and tropical plants.

The Bachelor and diploma (Master’s) theses are usually thematically connected with the research activities of the Department staff members or are carried out at specialized institutions involved in scientific cooperation with the Department.

The research activities of the Department are as follows:

• Complex environmental research with focus on anthropogenic effects on the industrial landscape.
• Assessment of genotoxicity and toxicity effects of environmental contaminants using specific detecting systems. Detection of mutagenicity of agents by methods of genetic analysis.
• Chorology and ecology of mosses.
• Ecology of herbivorous and fungivorous insects.
• Bioindication and biomonitoring of anthropogenic impact using invertebrates (Aranea, Odonata, Coleoptera).
• Population characteristics of ichthyocenoses of streams and reservoirs in the Odra river basin, anthropogenic influence on water ecosystems.
• Ecology and biology of native and invasive crayfish; systematics and ecology of crustaceans.

The Department organizes traditional scientific meetings and field trips for both specialists and students. Every two years, the Department holds a scientific conference "Environmental Changes and Biological Assessment", which also allows students to present their research findings. The majority of the Department is located in newly reconstructed premises with modern and well-equipped classrooms and laboratories for teaching and students’ research activities.