@mastersthesis{MTMT:35785032, title = {A legeltetés növényzetre és talajmagbankra gyakorolt hatásának vizsgálata homoki gyepközösségekben}, url = {https://m2.mtmt.hu/api/publication/35785032}, author = {Kovacsics-Vári, Gergely}, unique-id = {35785032}, year = {2025}, orcid-numbers = {Kovacsics-Vári, Gergely/0000-0002-9995-5733} } @article{MTMT:35062279, title = {Accumulated soil seed bank of the invasive sand dropseed (Sporobolus cryptandrus) poses a challenge for its suppression}, url = {https://m2.mtmt.hu/api/publication/35062279}, author = {Török, Péter and Espinoza Ami, Francis David and Tóth, Katalin and Diaz Cando, Patricia Elizabeth and Guallichico Suntaxi, Luis Roberto and McIntoshné Buday, Andrea and Hábenczyus, Alida Anna and Törő-Szijgyártó, Viktória and Kovacsics-Vári, Gergely and Tölgyesi, Csaba and Tóthmérész, Béla and Sonkoly, Judit}, doi = {10.1002/ldr.5208}, journal-iso = {LAND DEGRAD DEV}, journal = {LAND DEGRADATION & DEVELOPMENT}, volume = {35}, unique-id = {35062279}, issn = {1085-3278}, abstract = {Global warming, elevated atmospheric CO 2 concentrations and increased likeliness of extreme drought and wildfires in many regions will likely favour C4 grass species. To support future management actions, we explored the effect of the encroachment of an invasive perennial C4 grass, Sporobolus cryptandrus on the composition of soil seed banks in dry sand grasslands in Central Europe. In five mass‐locality sites of the species we assessed the composition and vertical segmentation of the soil seed bank in 12 1‐m 2 plots along an increasing cover of the invasive species. We found that the seed bank diversity and density decreased with increasing sampling depth; the decrease in density was affected by the increasing S. cryptandrus cover. Neither the diversity nor the seed bank density of other species were affected by increasing S. cryptandrus cover but both were affected by the sampling site. Most of the studied seed bank characteristics were affected by the sampling depth, but none of them were affected by the increasing cover of S. cryptandrus . Increasing cover of S. cryptandrus in the vegetation was associated with an increasing proportion of S. cryptandrus seeds in the seed bank, and we found a low‐density soil seed bank of the species even in plots with no S. cryptandrus cover. Our finding that S. cryptandrus forms a massive soil seed bank, together with the predicted decrease in the precipitation of the summer months and increase in the frequency of droughts in the region, projects further rapid spread of the species.}, year = {2024}, eissn = {1099-145X}, pages = {4105-4120}, orcid-numbers = {Hábenczyus, Alida Anna/0000-0003-0905-6724; Kovacsics-Vári, Gergely/0000-0002-9995-5733; Tölgyesi, Csaba/0000-0002-0770-2107; Sonkoly, Judit/0000-0002-4301-5240} } @article{MTMT:35170625, title = {Grime’s ecological strategies reveal contrasting patterns in alkaline and loess grasslands}, url = {https://m2.mtmt.hu/api/publication/35170625}, author = {McIntoshné Buday, Andrea and Sonkoly, Judit and Molnár, Attila and Tóth, Katalin and Törő-Szijgyártó, Viktória and Madar, Szilvia and Károlyi, Evelin and Diaz Cando, Patricia Elizabeth and Kovacsics-Vári, Gergely and Tóthmérész, Béla and Török, Péter}, doi = {10.1016/j.gecco.2024.e03132}, journal-iso = {GLOB ECOL CONSERV}, journal = {GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION}, volume = {54}, unique-id = {35170625}, issn = {2351-9894}, abstract = {Studying the relationship between biodiversity patterns and processes in vegetation has been at the centre of interest in vegetation ecology for several decades. By studying the biomass of loess and alkaline grasslands along a water and salinity gradient, we aimed to analyse species diversity and Grime’s competitor-stress tolerator-ruderal (CSR) functional strategy patterns. We aimed to test the following hypotheses: i) The biomass and species richness scores and the species composition are significantly different between the sampled grassland community types. ii) The sampled communities are well separated based on the CSR strategy spectrum. iii) The amount of green biomass and litter are positively correlated with competitiveness and negatively with stress tolerance. The biomass and species richness scores and the species composition of the sampled communities along the sampled gradients were significantly different; the highest species richness, evenness and Shannon diversity values were found in loess grasslands. The highest level of litter accumulation was found in alkaline meadows. The communities were well separated in the ordinations but surprisingly, calculation of coordinates for CSR strategy types have not shown clear separation of the grassland community types. All the communities were proven to be characterised by a high level of stress (located in the right corner of the CSR ternary diagram), but they markedly differed in the magnitude of competition and levels of disturbance expressed in the differences of ruderality. These results might suggest that even in highly stressed communities the community composition is strongly dependent on the differences in disturbance intensity (e.g., intensity and duration of grazing) and it is also strongly influenced by the competitive ability of constituting species.}, year = {2024}, eissn = {2351-9894}, orcid-numbers = {Kovacsics-Vári, Gergely/0000-0002-9995-5733} } @article{MTMT:35258094, title = {High species richness of sheep‐grazed sand pastures is driven by disturbance‐tolerant and weedy short‐lived species}, url = {https://m2.mtmt.hu/api/publication/35258094}, author = {Kovacsics-Vári, Gergely and Sonkoly, Judit and Tóth, Katalin and McIntoshné Buday, Andrea and Diaz Cando, Patricia Elizabeth and Törő-Szijgyártó, Viktória and Balogh, Nóra and Guallichico Suntaxi, Luis Roberto and Espinoza Ami, Francis David and Matus, Gábor and Tóthmérész, Béla and Török, Péter}, doi = {10.1002/ece3.70282}, journal-iso = {ECOL EVOL}, journal = {ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION}, volume = {14}, unique-id = {35258094}, issn = {2045-7758}, abstract = {We selected 15 sheep‐grazed sand pastures along a gradient of increasing grazing intensity to study the fine‐scale patterns of main biomass fractions (green biomass, litter) and that of plant species and functional groups (life forms and social behaviour types). We classified them into five grazing intensity levels based on stocking density, proximity to drinking and resting places and the number of faeces. We aimed to answer the following questions: (i) How does increasing intensity of sheep grazing affect the amount of green biomass, the species richness and their relationship in sand pastures? (ii) How does increasing intensity of sheep grazing affect the biomass of perennial and short‐lived graminoids and forbs? (iii) How does the disturbance value—expressed in the biomass ratio of disturbance‐tolerant and ruderal species—change along the gradient of grazing intensity? A unimodal relationship between green biomass and species richness was detected; however, the ordination (canonical correspondence analysis, CCA) showed no clustering of pastures subjected to the same levels of grazing intensity. Along the grazing intensity gradient we found an increasing trend in species richness and significant differences in green biomass (decreasing trend), litter (decreasing trend), graminoids (decreasing trend) and short‐lived forbs (increasing trend). We found an increasing amount of disturbance‐tolerant and ruderal species with increasing grazing intensity. We suggest that we might need to use multiple scales for sampling and a fine‐scale assessment of grazing intensity. Our findings might be instructive for pastures in densely populated regions, which are prone to the encroachment of disturbance‐tolerant and ruderal species.}, keywords = {functional groups; DISTURBANCE; Plant biomass; sheep grazing; European steppes; humped-back curve}, year = {2024}, eissn = {2045-7758}, orcid-numbers = {Kovacsics-Vári, Gergely/0000-0002-9995-5733} } @article{MTMT:33718295, title = {New thousand-seed weight dataset for plant species of Central Europe}, url = {https://m2.mtmt.hu/api/publication/33718295}, author = {Törő-Szijgyártó, Viktória and Balogh, Nóra and Henn, Tamás and McIntoshné Buday, Andrea and Sonkoly, Judit and Takács, Attila and Kovacsics-Vári, Gergely and Diaz Cando, Patricia Elizabeth and Molnár, V. Attila and Matus, Gábor and Teleki, Balázs and Süveges , Kristóf and Lukács, Balázs András and Lovas-Kiss, Ádám and Tóthmérész, Béla and Tóth, Edina and Tóth, Katalin and Török, Péter}, doi = {10.1016/j.dib.2023.109081}, journal-iso = {DATA BRIEF}, journal = {DATA IN BRIEF}, volume = {48}, unique-id = {33718295}, issn = {2352-3409}, abstract = {One of the most important and most easily measurable physical characteristics of plant seeds is their weight, which influences and indicates crucial ecological processes. Seed weight affects spatial and temporal dispersibility, and can also influence seed predation and the germination, growth and survival of seedlings. Providing trait data for species missing from international databases is key to promote studies that advance our understanding of the functioning of plant communities and ecosystems, which is an essential issue in the face of the global climate change and biodiversity loss. Compared to species from Western and Northwestern Europe, those with an Eastern or Central European centre of distribution are underrepresented in most international trait databases. Therefore, the creation of specific trait databases is key to help regional studies. In this respect, it is important not only to collect fresh seeds for weight measurements, but also to measure and process data of seeds preserved in collections and make them available to the broader scientific community. In this data paper we provide seed weight data to fill in missing trait data of plant species of Central and Eastern Europe. Our dataset includes weight measurement for 281 taxa of the Central European flora including also some cultivated and exotic species. The seeds were collected between 1971 and 2021 mostly in Central Europe. One part of the measured seeds was collected in the last decade, the other part is from an older seed collection, but all seeds were measured recently. For each species, we collected a minimum of 3 × 100 intact seeds, if possible. The seeds were air-dried at room temperature (approximately 21 °C and 50% relative humidity) for at least two weeks and measured with an accuracy of 0.001 g using an analytical balance. The thousand-seed weights reported here were calculated based on the measured values. Our goal for the future is to incorporate the seed weight data reported here in a regional database (Pannonian Database of Plant Traits – PADAPT) that gathers plant traits and other plant characteristics for the Pannonian flora. The data presented here will facilitate trait-based analyses of the flora and vegetation of Central Europe.}, year = {2023}, eissn = {2352-3409}, orcid-numbers = {Henn, Tamás/0000-0003-1679-1815; Kovacsics-Vári, Gergely/0000-0002-9995-5733; Teleki, Balázs/0000-0002-2417-0413} } @article{MTMT:33787185, title = {Intensity‐dependent effects of cattle and sheep grazing in sand grasslands ‐ Does livestock type really matter?}, url = {https://m2.mtmt.hu/api/publication/33787185}, author = {Kovacsics-Vári, Gergely and Sonkoly, Judit and Tóth, Katalin and McIntoshné Buday, Andrea and Diaz Cando, Patricia Elizabeth and Törő-Szijgyártó, Viktória and Balogh, Nóra and Guallichico Suntaxi, Luis Roberto and Espinoza Ami, Francis David and Demeter, László and Tóthmérész, Béla and Török, Péter}, doi = {10.1111/avsc.12727}, journal-iso = {APP VEGE SCI}, journal = {APPLIED VEGETATION SCIENCE}, volume = {26}, unique-id = {33787185}, issn = {1402-2001}, keywords = {steppe; plant traits; cattle grazing; pasture; Grazing intensity; sheep grazing; sand grassland}, year = {2023}, eissn = {1654-109X}, orcid-numbers = {Kovacsics-Vári, Gergely/0000-0002-9995-5733} } @misc{MTMT:35959831, title = {Alkaline and loess grasslands with contrasting richness and biomass patterns are not separated on the CSR strategy spectrum}, url = {https://m2.mtmt.hu/api/publication/35959831}, author = {McIntoshné Buday, Andrea and Sonkoly, Judit and Molnár, Attila and Tóth, Katalin and Törő-Szijgyártó, Viktória and Madar, Szilvia and Károlyi, Evelin and Díaz Cando, Patricia Elizabeth and Kovacsics-Vári, Gergely and Tóthmérész, Béla and Török, Péter}, unique-id = {35959831}, year = {2023}, orcid-numbers = {Kovacsics-Vári, Gergely/0000-0002-9995-5733} } @article{MTMT:32830324, title = {New data of plant leaf traits from Central Europe}, url = {https://m2.mtmt.hu/api/publication/32830324}, author = {McIntoshné Buday, Andrea and Sonkoly, Judit and Takács, Attila and Balogh, Nóra and Kovacsics-Vári, Gergely and Teleki, Balázs and Süveges , Kristóf and Tóth, Katalin and Hábenczyus, Alida Anna and Lukács, Balázs András and Lovas-Kiss, Ádám and Löki, Viktor and Tomasovszky, Alexandra and Tóthmérész, Béla and Török, Péter and Tóth, Edina}, doi = {10.1016/j.dib.2022.108286}, journal-iso = {DATA BRIEF}, journal = {DATA IN BRIEF}, volume = {42}, unique-id = {32830324}, issn = {2352-3409}, abstract = {Trait-based ecology is gaining ground nowadays on species-based ecology: the number of research and publication focusing on the ecological role of taxa instead of the species themselves increased significantly in the last two decades. One great advantage of this approach is that communities with different species composition due to great geographical distances (e.g., different continents) or different environmental conditions (e.g., loess, sand, and alkaline grasslands) become comparable. Obtaining trait values is, however, labour and time consuming even in the case of so-called soft traits. It is therefore reasonable and desirable for scientists to share their data as widely as possible. Demand for such data induced the publication of data papers and the establishment of databases, which support both theoretical ecological research and practical restoration ecological projects. Although several international databases (e.g., TRY, LEDA, CLO-PLA, BiolFLOR) are available nowadays, Central and Eastern European species are either missing or underrepresented in them. Consequently, measurement and publication of the traits of species typical in the above region is necessary. This paper presents leaf trait (leaf fresh and dry weight, leaf area, specific leaf area and leaf dry matter content) data for more than 1100 species of the Central European flora.}, year = {2022}, eissn = {2352-3409}, orcid-numbers = {Kovacsics-Vári, Gergely/0000-0002-9995-5733; Hábenczyus, Alida Anna/0000-0003-0905-6724} } @article{MTMT:32517717, title = {Invasion of the North American sand dropseed (Sporobolus cryptandrus) – A new pest in Eurasian sand areas?}, url = {https://m2.mtmt.hu/api/publication/32517717}, author = {Török, Péter and Schmidt, Dávid and Bátori, Zoltán and Aradi, E. and Kelemen, András and Hábenczyus, Alida Anna and Diaz Cando, Patricia Elizabeth and Tölgyesi, Csaba and Pál, R.W. and Balogh, N. and Tóth, Edina and Matus, Gábor and Táborská, Jana and Sramkó, Gábor and Laczkó, Levente and Jordán, Sándor and McIntoshné Buday, Andrea and Kovacsics-Vári, Gergely and Sonkoly, Judit}, doi = {10.1016/j.gecco.2021.e01942}, journal-iso = {GLOB ECOL CONSERV}, journal = {GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION}, volume = {32}, unique-id = {32517717}, issn = {2351-9894}, abstract = {For the effective control of an invasive species, gathering as much information as possible on its ecology, establishment and persistence in the affected communities is of utmost importance. We aimed to review the current distribution and characteristics of Sporobolus cryptandrus (sand dropseed), an invasive C4 grass species of North American origin recently discovered in Hungary. We aimed to provide information on (i) its current distribution paying special attention to its invasion in Eurasia; (ii) the characteristics of the invaded habitats in Central Europe; (iii) seed bank formation and germination characteristics, crucial factors in early establishment; and (iv) the effects of its increasing cover on vegetation composition. Finally, we aimed to (v) point out further research directions that could enable us to understand the invasion success of this potential invasive species. Field surveys uncovered large stands of the species in Central and Eastern Hungary with most of the locations in the former, especially in the Kiskunsag region. The species invaded disturbed stands of dry and open sand grasslands, closed dune slack grasslands and it also penetrates natural open sand grasslands from neighboring disturbed habitats. Increasing cover of Sporobolus cryptandrus was associated with a decline in species richness and abundance of subordinate species both in the vegetation and seed banks, but a low density of Sporobolus cryptandrus can even have a weak positive effect on these characteristics. Viable seeds of Sporobolus were detected from all soil layers (2.5 cm layers measured from the surface to 10 cm in depth), which indicates that the species is able to form a persistent seed bank (1114 to 3077 seeds/m(2) with increasing scores towards higher abundance of the species in vegetation). Germination of Sporobolus cryptandrus was negatively affected by both litter cover and 1 cm deep soil burial. To sum up, Sporobolus cryptandrus can be considered as a transformer invasive species, whose spread forms a high risk for dry sand and steppe grasslands in Eurasia. We can conclude that for the effective suppression of the species it is necessary: (i) to clarify the origin of the detected populations; (ii) to assess its competitive ability including its potential allelopathic effects; (iii) to assess its seed bank formation potential in habitats with different abiotic conditions; and (iv) to assess the possibility of its suppression by natural enemies and management techniques such as mowing or livestock grazing.}, year = {2021}, eissn = {2351-9894}, orcid-numbers = {Bátori, Zoltán/0000-0001-9915-5309; Hábenczyus, Alida Anna/0000-0003-0905-6724; Tölgyesi, Csaba/0000-0002-0770-2107; Sramkó, Gábor/0000-0001-8588-6362; Kovacsics-Vári, Gergely/0000-0002-9995-5733} }