2023. március 11., szombat

Frontlines of Urban Conservation and Restoration előadóülés


“Frontlines of Urban Conservation and Restoration” – a special session of the AE Budapest Knowledge Hub’s Urban Sustainability thematic mission


Invitation

to the Academia Europaea Budapest Knowledge Hub’s special session co-organized by Péter Batáry (DSc., Centre for Ecological Research) and Péter Török (DSc., University of Debrecen, AE Budapest Knowledge Hub)

“Frontlines of Urban Conservation and Restoration” – a special session of the AE Budapest Knowledge Hub’s Urban Sustainability thematic mission

Wednesday, 22 March 2023, 10:30-14:30 hrs (CET)

The Academia Europaea Budapest Knowledge Hub’s thematic mission for “Urban Sustainability” is cordially inviting you to its special session, under the title “Frontlines of Urban Conservation and Restoration”, which will be held in hybrid format, that is with in-person attendance in the Small Lecture Room (2nd floor) at the Palace of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (address: 1051 Budapest, Széchenyi István tér 9.), and online. Some of the speakers will join via Zoom, while the online audience can follow the event through live streaming on the Youtube Channel of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences:

https://www.youtube.com/c/MTA1825/featured

We very much look forward to welcoming you at the special session either in person or online. 

Registration is free for the event and it is open here: https://forms.gle/CWNgsFNnhw4RxLHw9.

Abstract

Urbanisation is one of the most important challenges for natural communities in the 21st century. Urbanisation – as a process in which there is an increase of concentration of human population in cities – leads not only to the change of land use and cover but involves a set of demographic, sociocultural, economic, technological, and environmental changes. Urbanisation is considered one of the most pressing human activities, which causes the homogenisation of flora and fauna, provides space for plant and animal invasions, and also changes the local climate through the heat island effect. Urban green spaces play a decisive role in the mitigation of these negative effects towards suburban and rural habitats and also provide a set of ecosystem services for cities. Thus, habitat conservation and restoration actions focusing on cities and understanding urbanisation effects on natural communities are vital. With this special session, we would like to invite researchers from Hungary and abroad to facilitate their networking and communication by highlighting hot topics in urban conservation and restoration.

Schedule of the program:

10:30-10:35 Welcome by the AE Budapest Knowledge Hub – Prof. Péter Török, Co-chair, Urban Sustainability Thematic Mission, Academia Europaea Budapest Knowledge Hub

Section 1 10:35-12:15 Presentations of the foreign researchers with discussion (15+5 min each) 

Moderator: Prof. Péter Batáry

10:35-10:55 Land sharing in urban gardens: ecosystems for biodiversity conservation and health restoration – Prof. Monika Egerer, Urban Productive Ecosystems, School of Life Sciences, Technical University of Munich, München, Germany - ONLINE

10:55-11:15 Colourful ribbons for our cities: The importance of flower patches along traffic roads as temporary habitats for pollinators – Prof. Christina Fischer, Anhalt University of Applied Sciences, Bernburg, Germany

11:15-11:35 Quantifying the plant functional specialization of urban habitats using Grime’s CSR strategies – Prof. Carlo Ricotta, Department of Environmental Biology, University of Rome 'La Sapienza', Rome, Italy

11:35-11:55 Urban landscapes as a habitat for pollinator communities – Dr. Weronika Banaszak-Cibicka, Department of Zoology, Poznań University of Life Sciences, Poznań, Poland

11:55-12:15 Exploring bird's responses to urbanization in European cities: From community metrics to individuals' behaviour – Prof. Federico Morelli, Community Ecology & Conservation, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Czech Republic – ONLINE

12:15-12:45 Lunchbreak (Sandwich lunch)

Section 2 12:45-14:25 Presentations of the Hungarian researchers with discussion (15+5 min each)

Moderator: Prof. Péter Török

12:45-13:05 Effects of land use on streams: traditional and functional analyses of benthic diatoms – Dr. Csilla Stenger-Kovács, Limnology Research Group, University of Pannonia, Veszprém, Hungary

13:05-13:25 Evolutionary ecology of anthropogenic habitat conversion in amphibians: stress and sex – Dr. Veronika Bókony, Department of Evolutionary Ecology, Plant Protection Institute, Centre for Agricultural Research, Eötvös Loránd Research Network, Budapest, Hungary

13:25-13:45 What did we learn from urban ecological meta-analyses? – Prof. Péter Batáry, “Lendület” Landscape and Conservation Ecology Research Group, Centre for Ecological Research, Vácrátót, Hungary

13:45-14:05 Urban biodiversity and the urban homogenization hypothesis – Prof. Béla Tóthmérész, University of Debrecen, Department of Ecology, Debrecen, Hungary

14:05-14:25 Urbanization effects on the cognitive abilities and behaviour of birds – Dr. Ernő Vincze, Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden; ELKH-PE Evolutionary Ecology Research Group, Centre for Natural Sciences, University of Pannonia, Veszprém, Hungary - ONLINE

14:25-14:30 Closing remarks (Prof. Péter Batáry)

2023. január 27., péntek

Év cikke jelölés az Applied Vegetation Science-ben

Hábenczyus Alida Anna elsőszerzős cikkét beválasztották a közé a három cikk közé, melyekből minden évben a lap főszerkesztői kiválasztják az év cikkét. Idén sajnos nem erre a cikkre esett a választás, ennek ellenére a jelölés is nagy elismerés, amihez szívből gratulálok! A cikk az alábbi linken található meg, míg a cikket méltató szerkesztői cikk ezen a linken keresztül olvasható el. Korábban Erdős László elsőszerzőséggel megjelent cikkünk elnyerte a folyóiratban az év cikke kitüntető címet. A cikk azóta szép pályát futott be és 2018 óta már több mint 80 WOS idézetnél jár.

2023. január 18., szerda

Élvonalban - interjú az Egyetemi Életben

Az Egyetemi Élet egyetemi folyóiratban megjelent egy hosszabb interjú velem az elnyert Élvonal pályázat kapcsán. Köszönöm a beszélgetőtársnak, Löki Viktornak az érdeklődő kérdéseket! Az interjú szövege az alábbi linken olvasható

2023. január 14., szombat

 Új cikk a Forest Ecology and Management-ben

Megjelent legújabb cikkünk Khanh Vo Ho elsőszerzőségével a Forest Ecology and Management szakfolyóiratban. A cikk "faék" egyszerűségű üzenete az, hogy a természetes erdőállományok értékesebbek mint az ültetvények, különösen ha azokat idegenhonos fajokból állítják össze. Számos ilyen jellegű "trivialitás" van , amihez nincs megfelelően hivatkozható és naprakész referencia irodalom, a cikk ezt  a hiányt igyekszik orvosolni. A cikk szabadon hozzáférhető a folyóirat honlapján az összefoglalója pedig az alábbiakban olvasható.

Non-native tree plantations are weak substitutes for near-natural forests regarding plant diversity and ecological value

Khanh Vu Ho, György Kröel-Dulay, Csaba Tölgyesi, Zoltán Bátori, Eszter Tanács, Miklós Kertész, Péter Török, László ErdősWhile near-natural forest stands are dramatically diminishing, monoculture tree plantations are rapidly spreading globally, including the eastern part of Central Europe. Tree plantations are regarded as simplified and species-poor ecosystems, but their functional and phylogenetic diversity and ecological value are still mostly unknown. In the present study, we investigated near-natural poplar forests and the three most common tree plantation types (native deciduous Populus alba, non-native evergreen Pinus nigra, and non-native deciduous Robinia pseudoacacia plantations) in the Kiskuns ́ag Sand Ridge, central Hungary. Our aim was to find out how different the species composition of the studied habitats is, how taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity vary among the four habitat types (i.e., near-natural forests and three types of plantations), and what the ecological value of the studied habitats is. We found that the four habitat types had significantly different species compositions. Although each habitat contained some diagnostic species, near-natural forests had the highest number of diagnostic species. While many of the diagnostic species of near-natural forests were native shrubs, tree plantations had many weeds and non-native herbs as diagnostic species. Near-natural forests had the highest per plot richness of native species and the lowest richness of non-natives. Shannon diversity, functional diversity and phylogenetic diversity were higher in the near-natural forests and two types of plantations (Populus and Pinus) compared to Robinia plantations. Based on naturalness indicator values, near-natural forests were the least degraded and Robinia plantations were the most degraded. Near-natural forests contained the most species of high conservation importance. Overall, near-natural forests proved to be much more valuable from an ecological and conservation perspective than any of the studied plantations; conservation and restoration programs should therefore focus on this type of habitat. Among the plantations, Populus alba plantations are the best substitute option in most respects, although they harbored a relatively high number of non-native species. We suggest that the native Populus alba should be preferred to non-native tree species when plantations are established. In addition, decreasing the extent of Pinus and Robinia plantations is essential on the long run if we aim to maintain the ecological integrity of the region.