TY - JOUR AU - Törő-Szijgyártó, Viktória AU - Török, Péter AU - Tóth, Katalin AU - Málik-Roffa, Hajnalka AU - Suntaxi, Luis Roberto Guallichico AU - Madar, Szilvia AU - Kovacsics-Vári, Gergely AU - McIntoshné Buday, Andrea AU - Diaz Cando, Patricia Elizabeth AU - Sonkoly, Judit TI - Inconsistent relationships detected between seed size, shape, and persistence for different plant functional groups in the Pannonian flora JF - ANNALS OF BOTANY J2 - ANN BOT-LONDON VL - 137 PY - 2026 IS - 4 SP - 1026 EP - 1035 PG - 10 SN - 0305-7364 DO - 10.1093/aob/mcaf322 UR - https://m2.mtmt.hu/api/publication/36493504 ID - 36493504 N1 - Online megjelenés 2025 LA - English DB - MTMT ER - TY - JOUR AU - Díaz Cando, Patricia Elizabeth AU - Sonkoly, Judit AU - Fenesi, Annamária AU - Guallichico Suntaxi, Luis Roberto AU - Kovacsics-Vári, Gergely AU - Di Vita, Luca AU - Espinoza Ami, Francis David AU - Madar, Szilvia AU - Károlyi, Evelin AU - McIntoshné Buday, Andrea AU - Törő-Szijgyártó, Viktória AU - Tóthmérész, Béla AU - Török, Péter TI - Establishment of most grassland species was not more suppressed by invasive Sporobolus cryptandrus litter than by native grass litter JF - BIOLOGICAL INVASIONS J2 - BIOL INVASIONS VL - 28 PY - 2026 IS - 1 PG - 13 SN - 1387-3547 DO - 10.1007/s10530-025-03748-5 UR - https://m2.mtmt.hu/api/publication/36852611 ID - 36852611 AB - Sporobolus cryptandrus , a North American C4 grass, has recently invaded European sandy grasslands, particularly in Central Europe (Hungary), where it threatens native plant communities. As allelopathy has been documented for other Sporobolus species, we tested whether litter from S. cryptandru s has a different effect on the germination and seedling emergence of native grassland species compared to native grass litter. We examined nine native grassland species and S. cryptandrus under three treatments: no litter (control), native litter and S. cryptandru s litter. We hypothesized the followings: (i) Litter addition can hinder germination compared to no-litter control because litter imposes physicochemical barriers. (ii) Following the Novel Weapons Hypothesis, Sporobolus litter may exert a stronger negative effect on native species than native grass litter. (iii) Litter effects are likely species-specific due to interspecific differences in traits and sensitivity to microenvironmental changes. Litter presence did not have a consistent negative effect across species, Sporobolus litter negatively affected germination only in Bromus tectorum . For most other species, the effects of native and Sporobolus litter were highly similar, suggesting that Sporobolus litter did not introduce physicochemical characteristics sufficiently different from native litter to produce distinct effects on native species. However, the suppression of B. tectorum germination by Sporobolus litter may indicate potential allelopathic effects. These findings suggest species-specific litter effects and highlight that Sporobolus litter could offer novel insights for managing B. tectorum , a problematic invader in North America. Future research should explore the long-term effects of Sporobolus litter in guiding restoration actions and invasive species management. LA - English DB - MTMT ER - TY - JOUR AU - Sonkoly, Judit AU - Törő-Szijgyártó, Viktória AU - Petró, Edit AU - Takács, Attila AU - Guallichico Suntaxi, Luis Roberto AU - McIntoshné Buday, Andrea AU - Diaz Cando, Patricia Elizabeth AU - Tóth, Katalin AU - Madar, Szilvia AU - Kovacsics-Vári, Gergely AU - Török, Péter TI - Unintentional seed dispersal via container-grown garden plants: Seed density and composition vary among exporter countries JF - NEOBIOTA J2 - NEOBIOTA VL - 107 PY - 2026 SP - 331 EP - 351 PG - 21 SN - 1619-0033 DO - 10.3897/neobiota.107.184691 UR - https://m2.mtmt.hu/api/publication/37360620 ID - 37360620 AB - The global ornamental plant trade is well-known as an important source of non-native plants, but the unintentional dispersal of seeds as contaminants of this trade is rarely considered and largely understudied. We sampled the substrate of imported container-grown plants in six garden centres in Hungary to answer the following questions: (i) What species’ seeds are present in the substrate of imported garden plants and in what quantity? (ii) Do the substrates of plants imported from different countries contain seeds in different density and composition? (iii) Do characteristics of the host garden plants affect the number and diversity of seeds found in their substrate? In the studied 60 litres of substrate samples, we detected altogether 2,181 seeds of 80 taxa. On average, 1 litre of substrate contained 36 seeds of five species. Most species were non-native in Hungary and 48% of the samples contained at least one seed of a recently introduced, emerging neophyte. We found that the substrate of plants imported from different countries contained seeds in different number, diversity, and composition. Thus, the structure of the horticultural trade network can have an effect on the non-native flora of importing countries. Furthermore, the substrate of needle-leaved ornamental species contained more seeds than the substrate of broadleaved ornamentals. Our findings provide further evidence that the ornamental plant trade can disperse a large number of seeds of numerous species and introduce new non-native species into the importing countries. We conclude that this introduction pathway deserves greater attention in invasion biology. LA - English DB - MTMT ER - TY - JOUR AU - Kovacsics-Vári, Gergely AU - Sonkoly, Judit AU - Tóth, Katalin AU - McIntoshné Buday, Andrea AU - Guallichico Suntaxi, Luis Roberto AU - Madar, Szilvia AU - Diaz Cando, Patricia Elizabeth AU - Törő-Szijgyártó, Viktória AU - Tóthmérész, Béla AU - Török, Péter TI - High-intensity sheep grazing impoverishes soil seed banks in sand grasslands JF - JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT J2 - J ENVIRON MANAGE VL - 413 PY - 2026 PG - 10 SN - 0301-4797 DO - 10.1016/j.jenvman.2026.130394 UR - https://m2.mtmt.hu/api/publication/37385274 ID - 37385274 LA - English DB - MTMT ER - TY - THES AU - Kovacsics-Vári, Gergely TI - A legeltetés növényzetre és talajmagbankra gyakorolt hatásának vizsgálata homoki gyepközösségekben PY - 2025 UR - https://m2.mtmt.hu/api/publication/35785032 ID - 35785032 LA - Hungarian DB - MTMT ER - TY - JOUR AU - Török, Péter AU - Espinoza Ami, Francis David AU - Tóth, Katalin AU - Diaz Cando, Patricia Elizabeth AU - Guallichico Suntaxi, Luis Roberto AU - McIntoshné Buday, Andrea AU - Hábenczyus, Alida Anna AU - Törő-Szijgyártó, Viktória AU - Kovacsics-Vári, Gergely AU - Tölgyesi, Csaba AU - Tóthmérész, Béla AU - Sonkoly, Judit TI - Accumulated soil seed bank of the invasive sand dropseed (Sporobolus cryptandrus) poses a challenge for its suppression JF - LAND DEGRADATION & DEVELOPMENT J2 - LAND DEGRAD DEV VL - 35 PY - 2024 IS - 13 SP - 4105 EP - 4120 PG - 16 SN - 1085-3278 DO - 10.1002/ldr.5208 UR - https://m2.mtmt.hu/api/publication/35062279 ID - 35062279 AB - 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. LA - English DB - MTMT ER - TY - JOUR AU - McIntoshné Buday, Andrea AU - Sonkoly, Judit AU - Molnár, Attila AU - Tóth, Katalin AU - Törő-Szijgyártó, Viktória AU - Madar, Szilvia AU - Károlyi, Evelin AU - Diaz Cando, Patricia Elizabeth AU - Kovacsics-Vári, Gergely AU - Tóthmérész, Béla AU - Török, Péter TI - Grime’s ecological strategies reveal contrasting patterns in alkaline and loess grasslands JF - GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION J2 - GLOB ECOL CONSERV VL - 54 PY - 2024 PG - 13 SN - 2351-9894 DO - 10.1016/j.gecco.2024.e03132 UR - https://m2.mtmt.hu/api/publication/35170625 ID - 35170625 AB - 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. LA - English DB - MTMT ER - TY - JOUR AU - Kovacsics-Vári, Gergely AU - Sonkoly, Judit AU - Tóth, Katalin AU - McIntoshné Buday, Andrea AU - Diaz Cando, Patricia Elizabeth AU - Törő-Szijgyártó, Viktória AU - Balogh, Nóra AU - Guallichico Suntaxi, Luis Roberto AU - Espinoza Ami, Francis David AU - Matus, Gábor AU - Tóthmérész, Béla AU - Török, Péter TI - High species richness of sheep‐grazed sand pastures is driven by disturbance‐tolerant and weedy short‐lived species JF - ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION J2 - ECOL EVOL VL - 14 PY - 2024 IS - 9 PG - 12 SN - 2045-7758 DO - 10.1002/ece3.70282 UR - https://m2.mtmt.hu/api/publication/35258094 ID - 35258094 AB - 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. LA - English DB - MTMT ER - TY - JOUR AU - Törő-Szijgyártó, Viktória AU - Balogh, Nóra AU - Henn, Tamás AU - McIntoshné Buday, Andrea AU - Sonkoly, Judit AU - Takács, Attila AU - Kovacsics-Vári, Gergely AU - Diaz Cando, Patricia Elizabeth AU - Molnár, V. Attila AU - Matus, Gábor AU - Teleki, Balázs AU - Süveges, Kristóf AU - Lukács, Balázs András AU - Lovas-Kiss, Ádám AU - Tóthmérész, Béla AU - Tóth, Edina AU - Tóth, Katalin AU - Török, Péter TI - New thousand-seed weight dataset for plant species of Central Europe JF - DATA IN BRIEF J2 - DATA BRIEF VL - 48 PY - 2023 PG - 5 SN - 2352-3409 DO - 10.1016/j.dib.2023.109081 UR - https://m2.mtmt.hu/api/publication/33718295 ID - 33718295 N1 - Data Article AB - 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. LA - English DB - MTMT ER - TY - JOUR AU - Kovacsics-Vári, Gergely AU - Sonkoly, Judit AU - Tóth, Katalin AU - McIntoshné Buday, Andrea AU - Diaz Cando, Patricia Elizabeth AU - Törő-Szijgyártó, Viktória AU - Balogh, Nóra AU - Guallichico Suntaxi, Luis Roberto AU - Espinoza Ami, Francis David AU - Demeter, László AU - Tóthmérész, Béla AU - Török, Péter TI - Intensity‐dependent effects of cattle and sheep grazing in sand grasslands ‐ Does livestock type really matter? JF - APPLIED VEGETATION SCIENCE J2 - APP VEGE SCI VL - 26 PY - 2023 IS - 2 SN - 1402-2001 DO - 10.1111/avsc.12727 UR - https://m2.mtmt.hu/api/publication/33787185 ID - 33787185 LA - English DB - MTMT ER -