Centre for Ecological Research

Institute of Ecology and Botany 

"Lendület" Landscape and Conservation Ecology

News - 2024

Conference: Tamás presented his research on urban park bird communities in Hungary and Romania during a flash poster session at the Conference of the ELTE Doctoral School of Biology in Budapest, engaging with various experts on his finding. December 2024. 

Retreat: Our research group had a fantastic retreat in Zakopane, Poland! We discussed the Frontline project and other initiatives, explored the stunning High Tatra Mountains with expert guides, learned about local flora, fauna, and conservation challenges, and enjoyed traditional food and great company. December 2024. 

Meeting: Dávid and Péter attended the Annual General Meeting of the Showcase project at the University of Cádiz, Spain. The two-day event featured engaging scientific presentations and fruitful discussions. Outside the sessions, attendees enjoyed excellent birdwatching, exploring the charming city, and savoring delicious local food and drinks, all under beautiful, sunny skies. November 2024.

Conference: Péter gave an invited keynote talk at the Annual Meeting of the German Section of the International Association for Landscape Ecology (IALE) about biodiversity in villages at the Anhalt University of Applied Sciences, Bernburg, Germany. He also got to know many new colleagues and visited experimental site. November 2024. 

Meeting: Our group participated at the Annual General Meeting of the Centre for Ecological Research, where Kata gave a talk about about green infrastructure, and Riho about meta-analysis on agri-environment schemes. We enjoyed the nice autumn weather and had fun at the Lake Balaton. November 2024. 

Publication: We published a paper from the FunProd Biodiversa project with Péter and Robi as co-authors in Ecological Application with the title "Functional diversity of ground beetles improved aphid control but did not increase crop yields on European farms". Our study suggests that ecosystem services by ground beetles cannot compensate for the yield gap due to a reduction in land-use intensity. October 2024. 

PhD defense and institute visit: Péter participated in the successful PhD defense of João Faria as external reviewer at the University of Porto, and gave a seminar talk at the Research Centre in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources (CIBIO) in Vairão, Portugal. October 2024. 

Publication: Robi, Niki and Péter published an article in Basic and Applied Ecology with the title: "Dwarf shrubs may mitigate the negative effects of climate change on spiders by moderating microclimate". Our results suggested that dwarf shrubs create microclimatic heterogeneity that helps arthropods in buffering macroclimatic warming. September 2024.

Conference: Brigi, Tomás, and Péter represented our group at the 9th Student Conference on Conservation Science in Balatonvilágos. Tomás gave a talk, Péter led a meta-analysis workshop, and Brigi was part of the organizing team. We also enjoyed the last summer days with a local brewery tasting. September 2024. 

Conference: Tomas gave a talk at the 34th European Congress of Arachnology in Rennes, and won the congress photo contest with a photo showing a crab spider (Synema globosum) preying upon a honeybee. September 2024.


Publication: Kata co-authored an article published in NeoBiota with the title: "Explosive spread of sand dropseed (Sporobolus cryptandrus), a C4 perennial bunchgrass, threatens unique grasslands in Hungary (Central Europe)". Our results suggested that the species with its explosive spread likely poses a significant threat to Eurasian dry grasslands. September 2024.


Conference: Kata participated at the 14th European Conference on Ecological Restoration in Tartu, Estonia, and gave a presentation about the planning of the eLTER Restoration Knowledge Hub. September 2024. 

Cover photo: Péter's photo about an abandoned and crumbling Tanya in Hungary has been published on the cover page of Journal of Applied Ecology in connection to our editorial paper. A Tanya typically consists of a single house or a few mud-brick buildings. Today, around 250,000 people live in Tanyas, often without running water or electricity. September 2024. 

New group member: We would like to welcome Márton Szabó as an assistant researcher and PhD student at the Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, joining our group under the supervision of Robi. Happy sciencing! September 2024. 

Scientific society announcement: We are pleased to announce that Robi has been elected as the President of the Hungarian Ecological Society. Congratulations to Robi, we wish you a successful and fulfilling term in leadership! August 2024. 

Conference: Kitti, Dávid, Attila and Robi participated and gave excellent talks at the 13th Congress of the Hungarian Ecological Society (Szeged, Hungary). The congress was co-organized by Attila. August 2024. 

Publication: Péter’s co-authored editorial paper has been published in Journal of Applied Ecology: “Ecology and conservation under ageing and declining human populations". In this brief overview we demonstrated that population decline, ageing and rural-to-urban migration can have extensive implications for biodiversity and the socio-cultural relationships between people and nature. August 2024. 

Publication: Niki’s first-authored article has been published in the Zoosystematics and Evolution with the title: „On the identity and placement of Xysticus lendli Kulczyński, 1897 (Araneae, Thomisidae): an integrative approach”. Here, we illustrated and re-described a crab spider species, described its female for the first time, and placed it within the current phylogenetic framework. August 2024. 

Publication: Tomáš and Robi´s paper has been published in Insect Conservation and Diversity with the title: "Ecologically sustainable retention forestry supports spider biodiversity in the Lower Morava UNESCO Biosphere Reserve". We showed that dispersed retention provides a more complex-structured and biodiverse habitat than clear-cuts in commercial floodplain forests. August 2024. 

New group member: We would welcome Brígida Monteiro Drumond Bowen as a PhD student at the Anhalt University of Applied Sciences to our group supervised by Christina Fischer and Péter. Happy sciencing! August 2024. 

Publication: Péter's co-authored article has been published in the Finnish ornithological journal, Ornis Fennica with the title: "Proximity of shrub nests to ground nests increases the chance of ground nest predation". Our results suggest that proximity of two nest types can be detrimental to predation pressure, especially in forest edges. July 2024. 

Publication: Edina's co-authored article has been published in the Journal of Insect Conservation with the title: "The effects of plant invasion, floral resources and soil characteristics on ground-nesting bees". We showed that plant invasion negatively affects foraging and some nesting characteristics of ground-nesting bees. July 2024.

Meeting: Kata represented the Kiskun eLTER site at the IRISCC (Integrated Research Infrastructure Services for Climate Change Risks) project kickoff in Helsinki, which aims to harmonize and customize European research infrastructure services for climate change risk assessments, with Kiskun eLTER providing transnational access to relevant services and data. July 2024.

Conference: Part of our group participated at the 7th European Congress of Conservation Biology (ECCB) in Bologna. We organised two symposia and presented eight talks, and enjoyed meeting friends and colleagues, and the scenic city. July 2024. 

Publication: Our paper with Kitti as first author has been published in the Journal of Applied Ecology with the title of "Supportive effect of uncut refuge strips on grassland arthropods may depends on the amount and width of strips". Our findings provide evidence that uncut refuge strips can harbour diverse and abundant arthropod assemblages in hay meadows and mitigate the adverse effects of uniformly executed mowing on arthropods. June 2024. 

Fieldwork: This year’s field work in solar parks has started. Kállai Márton, the official photographer of CER visited us and took some nice photos. June 2024. 

Publication: Péter co-authored a book chapter  published in the Routledge book of "Handbook of Insect Conservation" with the title: "Agroecological farming for insect conservation". We reviewed the benefits of agroecological farming to insects and their ecosystem services, and highlighted future directions. June 2024. 

Publication: Riho's co-authored article has been published in the Agriculture Ecosystems & Environment with the title: "Linking farming practices and landscape elements to nest predation of an iconic farmland wader". We showed that lapwing hatching success was significantly lower in organic when compared to conventionally managed fields and this was mainly caused by increased nest predation. June 2024. 

Defense: Christine has successfully defended her PhD at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna with the title “Effects of local and landscape factors on pest insects and their natural antagonists in perennial agroecosystems” Congratulations! June 2024. 

Photo: Tomas, our young postdoc, observed and photographed an albino robin right in front of our institute building called the Castle. May 2024.

Publication: Teja's paper has been published in Trends in Ecology & Evolution with the title of "Mixing on- and off-field measures for biodiversity conservation". Here, we argued that a mix of on- and off-field measures is needed, overcoming the false dichotomy of the land sharing-sparing debate. May 2024. 

Publication: Péter’s co-authored editorial paper has been published in Journal of Applied Ecology: “Beyond yield and toward sustainability: Using applied ecology to support biodiversity conservation and food production". Ecological research and robust science will play a vital role in supporting more sustainable food production, where we think that Journal of Applied Ecology plays a key a role. April 2024.

Defense:Tomas successfully defended his PhD in Mendel University in Brno, with the title “Local and landscape factors affecting the biodiversity of spiders in temperate and deciduous forest and forest-steppe ecosystems” Congratulations! April 2024


Publication: Maxime, our former guest, has published a paper in  Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment with Péter as a co-author: “Pollination deficits and their relation with insect pollinator visitation are cultivar-dependent in an entomophilous crop”. Our results suggest opportunities to use certain cultivars that are less dependent on insect-mediated pollination in landscapes and regions where pollination services have been compromised. April 2024. 

Call for papers: Péter and Kata, together with András Báldi and Moses Azong Cho as guest editors, organize a collection of papers in Landscape Ecology with the title "Effects of agricultural landscapes on biodiversity, ecosystem services, and yield". We welcome submissions. April 2024. 

Publication: Péter’s co-authored paper has been published in Science: “Joint environmental and social benefits from diversified agriculture”. We found that applying multiple diversification strategies creates more positive outcomes than individual management strategies alone. April 2024. 

Visiting scientist: Corrado Alessandrini has spent half a year in our group and was accommodated in the National Botanical Garden. He gave a report about his experiences and researches. We are happy that you visited us. April 2024. 

Guest scientist: We welcome Mattia Brambilla, guest scientist, Péter and Dávid's collaborating colleague, from University of Milan, Italy. We visited the Showcase vineyards, enjoyed birding and vine tasting together with his PhD students, Emanuela Granata, and Corrado. He also gave a talk about "Birds among grapes" at our institutional seminar. March 2024. 

Event: We celebrated World Pollinator Day again this year by highlighting the importance of pollinator protection to families and showing which solitary bees can nest in the bee hotels, at the National Botanical Garden. March 2024. 

Publication: Riho's co-authored article has been published in the Agronomy for Sustainable Development with the title: "The effectiveness of intercropping and agri-environmental schemes on ecosystem service of biological pest control: a meta-analysis". We showed that intercropping reduced herbivore and boosted predators and parasitoids abundance significantly, while agri-environment schemes successfully increased predators but not herbivores. February 2024. 

Carnival: Many of our group members participated in the carnival of the Centre for Ecological Research in Vácrátót, where all colleagues from the three institutes meet, dress up, dance and spend a nice night together. February 2024. 

Publication: Riho's co-authored article has been published in the Global Ecology and Conservation with the title: "Home ranges and hatching success of threatened Eurasian curlew in north-eastern Europe relates to habitat type: Natural vs. agricultural landscapes". We showed that breeding success is higher for curlews breeding in bogs than in grasslands. February 2024. 

Publication: Our paper with Riho's first authorship has been published in Journal of Environmental Management with the title: "Quantifying potential trade-offs and win-wins between arthropod diversity and yield on cropland under agri-environment schemes – A meta-analysis". We found higher species richness and abundace of arthropods in agri-environment scheme subsidised fields compared to control ones, but for the cost of lower yields, which was less compromised in out-of-production schemes, such as flower strips. February 2024. 

Conference: Our Institute at the Centre for Ecological Research organized the XIV. conference on Actual Flora and Vegetation Research in the Carpathian Basin in Gödöllő, where Kata gave a talk about the plant diversity in villages in semi-natural and agricultural landscapes based on our Frontline project research. February 2024. 

Meeting: Our group has visited the Plant Protection Institute of the Centre for Agricultural Research in Budapest, where we presented five agroecological talks in the frame of a joint mini-conference. January 2024. 

Publication: Péter’s co-authored paper has been published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B-Biological Sciences: “Distance functions of carabids in crop fields depend on functional traits, crop type and adjacent habitat: a synthesis”. We found that carabid assemblages in agricultural landscapes are driven by the complex interplay of crop types, adjacent non-crop habitats and further landscape parameters with great potential for targeted agroecological management. January 2024. 


Talk: Kitti gave an introductory talk about her previous and actual works at the 'Plant-animal interactions and environmental change' lab led by Chuan-Kai Ho, at Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, National Taiwan University. January 2024.