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Lajos Felföldy: a prominent Hungarian botanist and hydrobiologist
3–25Views:763Lajos Felföldy (1920–2016) was one of the most versatile and open-minded Hungarian biologists. He began his scientific career as a student of Prof. Rezső Soó. Between 1938 and 1946 he participated in geobotanical studies in University of Debrecen and Kolozsvár (Cluj-Napoca, Romania). He contributed with important achievements to the development of several biological disciplines. His pioneering study on the effects of air pollution on epiphytic lichens (1942) was among the firsts in the world. He described Hemitherophyte life-form as a discrete unit within Raunkiaer's plant life-form system (1942). He was a pioneer in the cytological (caryological) study of wild vascular plant species in Hungary (1947–1949). His results regarding to primary production of freshwater algae and algal culture (1958–1960) were in leading edge. In 1972 he founded and until 1990 edited the Hungarian series entitled ‘Vízűgyi Hidrobiológia’. Books of this series aimed to publish identification keys of freshwater taxa. These books were proved to be decisive and useful tools for Hungarian hydrobiologists in biological classification of brooks, streams, rivers and different types of stagnant waters. Between 1934 and 2009 he collected more than ten thousand herbarium sheets. After his retirement, he dealt with the revision of the herbarium material of Department of Botany in Hungarian Natural History Museum and Botanical Garden of Eötvös University (Budapest). He participated in the preparation of the New Hungarian Herbal. His scientific work was characterised by deep humility for nature, which was founded on strong theoretical and practical background.
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Contributions to the algal flora of Téglagyári-tó in Kőszeg, with special reference to some representatives of the desmids
141–156Views:238The western border region of Hungary, including Kőszeg and its surroundings, is a poorly documented region from an algal point of view. The first reason for this is that the major standing water bodies found here are all artificial and relatively young in age. However, in the absence of other natural water bodies, they are important as potential wetland habitats, as is the information needed to conserve them. The present paper is the first to describe the algal flora of Téglagyári-tó in Kőszeg in the context of the planned process of processing lakes and reservoirs in the area. Despite its small size and the disturbance caused by its recreational use, Téglagyári-tó is a species-rich, highly diverse habitat in terms of algal diversity. The Chlorophyta division accounts for the majority of the species recorded, but the Charopyta, Euglenophyta and Heterocontophyta divisions also make a significant contribution. Its value is particularly enhanced by rare species (e.g. Stauridium privum, Cosmarium sinostegos var. obtusius), not to mention the red-listed endangered species (Cosmarium anceps, Cylindrocystis brebissonii, Euastrum bidentatum, Euastrum denticulatum, Penium spirostriolatum, Staurastrum oxyacanthum, Staurastrum tetracerum). A special feature is the presence of desmids (Euastrum biverrucosum, Euastrum minimum, Staurastrum levanderi var. hollandicum), which are not yet recorded in the region, and which colonise the slightly alkaline mesotrophic environment of the lake, otherwise known from a more acidic eutrophic environment. As a curiosity, Entomoneis ornata should be mentioned, which was identified in an environment associated with higher salinity waters and only moderately loaded with inorganic nutrients.