Gyakorlati gyeprekonstrukció kurgánokon - új cikk a Nature Conservation-ben

Megjelent Valkó Orsolya elsőszerzőségével legújabb közleményünk a Nature Conservation című szakfolyóiratban. A kézirat kurgánokon zajlott gyakorlati gyeprekonstrukció, növény telepítés és áttelepítés tapasztalatait összegzi. A cikk szabadon hozzáférhető a folyóirat honlapján. A közlemény összefoglalója az alábbiakban olvasható.

Cultural heritage and biodiversity conservation – plant introduction and practical restoration on ancient burial mounds

Valkó O., Tóth K., Kelemen A., Miglécz T., Radócz Sz., Sonkoly J., Tóthmérész B., Török P., Deák B.

Linking the conservation of cultural heritage and natural values provides a unique opportunity for preserving traditional landscapes and receives an increased awareness from stakeholders and society. Ancient burial mounds are proper objects of such projects as they are iconic landscape elements of the Eurasian steppes and often act as refugia for grassland specialist species. The aim of this project was to reintroduce grassland plant species to burial mounds for representing them as cultural monuments with the associated biodiversity for the public. The effectiveness of seed sowing, transplanting greenhouse-grown plants and individuals from threatened populations on burial mounds in Hortobágy National Park, Hungary was tested. The following questions were answered: (1) which method is the most effective for species introduction? (2) which species can establish most successfully? (3) how does management affect the species establishment rates? It was found advisable to use a combination of seed sowing and transplanting greenhouse-grown plants. Sowing was found as a cost-effective method for introducing large-seeded species, whilst introduction of greenhouse-grown transplants warranted higher establishment rates for a larger set of species. Transplanting adult individuals was more reliable regardless of management regimes, however this method is labour-intensive and expensive. Intensive management, like mowing with heavy machinery and intensive grazing, should be avoided in the first few years after introduction. The authors highlighted the fact that introducing characteristic grassland species on cultural monuments offers a great opportunity to link issues of landscape and biodiversity conservation. This project demonstrated that, by the revitalisation of cultural monuments, cultural ecosystem services can also be restored.

Vigyázzunk a keskeny sávokkal - Új cikk az AGEE-ben

Tölgyesi Csaba elsőszerzőségével megjelent - a karácsonyfa alá kerülve - legújabb cikkünk az Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment nemzetközi folyóiratban. A cikk eltérő szélességű kezeletlen sávok hatásának vizsgálatával nyert eredményeket mutatja be ízeltlábú populációk mozgásán (spillover) keresztül. A cikk ezen a linken keresztül 50 napig, 2018 február 11-ig, ingyenesen letölthető, ezt köetően a honlapomon keresztül elérhető lesz. A közlemény összefoglalója az alábbiakban olvasható.

Think twice before using narrow buffers: Attenuating mowing-induced arthropod spillover at forest – grassland edges

Tölgyesi Cs., Császár P., Torma A., Török P., Bátori Z., Gallé R.   

Spillover between agricultural land and natural habitats is recognised as an important mechanism shaping biodiversity and ecosystem functions. Its spatio-temporal patterns and magnitude are thoroughly described in the literature and it is often stated that spillover should be considered in conservation planning. In fact studies that implement and test active interventions to modulate spillover are scarce. Therefore, we studied the spillover of spiders and carabids between hay meadows and natural forests after mowing and tested whether leaving unmown buffer strips in the edges can mitigate undesirable aspects of mowing-induced spillover. We found that mowing affected the assemblages both in the meadows and forests and, interestingly, changes were more profound in the forests. Mowing reduced the spillover of forest assemblages into meadows. Mowing also led to the retraction of forest assemblages from the peripheral zones of forests but did not trigger an influx of meadow assemblages into the forests. Wide (10?m) unmown buffers attenuated or completely offset most of these effects. Leaving narrow (5?m) buffers had unexpected consequences, as they did not function only as buffers but as facilitators of forest-ward spillover from meadows, potentially compromising ecological interactions such as predation or competition in forests. We conclude that using wide buffers can be recommended as a refinement of standard management practices in hay meadow–forest mosaics. Narrow buffers should be applied with great caution and should generally be avoided if the forest-specific assemblages are of conservation interest.