Piotr Bałazy - oceanographer with specialization in marine biology, adjunct and scientific diving officer at the Institute of Oceanology of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IO PAN) in Sopot. Deals with marine ecology, his professional interests revolve around hard bottom communities - mainly epifauna, the so-called ecosystem engineers and factors controlling biodiversity. Although most of his work to date concerned rapidly-changing polar regions (Arctic and Antarctic), he does not forget about the Baltic Sea, its green waters and unique rocky "reefs." He is particularly interested in shipwrecks treated as steel islands and hot spots for biodiversity and their role in ecosystem functioning. Fascinated from the beginning by scuba diving, which actually led him to his studies, has been developing his underwater photography workshop for a few years using it as one of his main research tools – most recently the time-lapse technique, which results can be viewed at www.PolarTimeLapse.net.
