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• The degradation of hygrophilous plant associations of the Nyárjas Lake (E Hungary)

  63–77

  Mihály Vas

  Views:

  131

  The Nyárjas Lake (located near Kállósemjén, East Hungary) was one of the most typical bogs in the Nyírség until the early 1980’s. Most of its area was covered by the association of Carici-Menyanthetum. The number of species characteristic to the mentioned association was generally high. As the climate became drier, hotter and were characterised by higher magnitude of extremities, the water coverage became no longer as permanent. This resulted that the Menyanthes trifoliata and Listera ovata became extinct by 2000. Lemno-Potamea species were not found after 2010. Bidentetalia, Calystegietalia, Chenopodietea and Secalietea species became more prevalent, particularly in drier periods, and locations where Carici-Menyanthetum used to be characteristic. Cirsium arvense in the mid-1990’s and that of Urtica dioica in the mid-2010’s became dramatically abundant. Both the number and coverage of species indicating habitat degradation have increased. The composition of wet meadow plant associations shifted towards the drier Arrhenatheretea. A moderate revitalisation of wetland associations was, however, observed coinciding years with higher precipitation.

• The role of soil seed bank in restoration and dynamics of Hungarian plant communities

  116-135

  Réka Kiss

  Views:

  133

  Soil seed bank has an important role in maintaining plant populations and communities, in regeneration processes, and also provides information about the history of the studied site, the past land use practices, the biotic and abiotic changes and about the current degradation degree. In Hungary there are many researchers related to the seed bank, but from the last few years we do not have a comprehensive work about the results of these works. My goal is to report on the results of former seed bank researches in Hungary and also to highlight the missing topics and further research opportunities. The review is based on 49 articles, the oldest one dates back to 1922, the newest one was published in 2015. Most of the studies use greenhouse or laboratory germination tests to determine the viability of seeds. The earliest studies, which examined the weed seed bank of farmland soils found, that the seed bank was much higher than the total seed bank found on natural and semi-natural habitats studied later. Researchers found the lowest seed bank density in forests. Disturbed sites and former agricultural sites had higher seed bank densities than sites without agricultural use. Most part of seed bank was located in the upper soil layer in all studied communities. In most studies usually a small similarity was detected between the composition of soil seed bank and aboveground vegetation, which suggests that the seed bank has a subordinate role in regeneration processes. Seed bank type classification is lacking from the three-quarter of Hungarian flora species, despite that it is essential for protecting species and communities and for developing proper protection against invasive and alien species.

• Disappearing botanical and cultural heritage of wooden headboard-graveyards in Eastern-Hungary and Transylvania (Romania)

  51-64

  Attila Molnár V.

  Viktor Löki

  Views:

  180

  Degradation or disappearance of natural habitats are global phenomena nowadays, hence the role of small and secondary (seminatural) habitats like cemeteries in preserving natural values are more and more appreciated. The botanical values and burial customs were examined in a total of 51 graveyards in three different regions of Hungary and Romania (10, 19 and 22 graveyards in the North Hungarian Mountains, the Great Hungarian Plain and Transylvania, respectively). Altogether 25 in Hungary legally protected plant species were found, 1.5 protected species per graveyard on average. As we observed, traditional burials with wooden headboards are rapidly superseded by modern burial customs. Based on our non-representative poll (n=102), 90% of citizens on average are satisfied with current conditions in Hungarian graveyards. A two-thirds majority of respondents would prefer more frequent lawn-mowing in graveyards. 75% of respondents prefer modern tombs to traditional graves. Disappearance of old burial customs characterised by the use of wooden headboards (and the simultaneous change in traditional, habitat-friendly practices in graveyards) means not only a loss of cultural values, but threatens the natural biodiversity of graveyards as well.

• Notes to the vascular flora of Sopron Mountains and its foreground

  187–194

  Dávid Schmidt

  Győző Haszonits

  Views:

  338

  Records of 26 vascular plant species from the territory of Sopron Mountains (16 species) and Sopron Basin (11 species) are presented. Our field works (between 2014 and 2020) focused on some localities at the eastern and southern parts of the region. Tetragonolobus maritimus is new for the Sopron Mts, whereas Ajuga chamaepithys and Lycopsis arvensis are new for the Hungarian part of the hills. Some protected plants like Agrostemma githago, Gentianopsis ciliata and Sesleria uliginosa were rediscovered in the region. Comments about all species and their local chorology are added. A remarkable degradation process of bogs around Harka village, caused mainly by insufficient water supply of meadows, was observed. The spread of occurrences of several naturalized weed such as Aegilops cylindrica, Galium parisiense, Geranium rotundifolium, Kochia scoparia, Lepidium virginicum, Oenothera salicifolia, Sagina apetala subsp. apetala and Verbascum lychnitis was noticed. The most surprising observations refer to Galium parisiense; the spread of the species by transport had no precedent in Hungary before.

• Ceratocephala testiculata (Crantz) Roth and further data to the flora of the foothills of Bükk Mts.('Bükkalja', NE Hungary)

  81-142

  András Schmotzer

  Views:

  238

  This paper reports new floristic data of 367 taxa (365 species and two hybrids) from the foothill region of Bükk Mts. ('Bükkalja', NE-Hungary) based on 5470 field collected data records. The data was collected between 1997–2014 and supplemented with herbaria (altogether 344 herbaria sheets). Data evaluation was based on the comprehensive Bükk Flora of András Vojtkó and further papers. Altogether 45 species were registered as previously unreported from the area, whereas three species had old data (Acer negundo, Elaeagnus angustifolia, Xanthium strumarium). Out of the newly registered species six native species inhabits natural habitats (Carex flacca, Ceratocephala testiculata, Glycerrhiza echinata, Gypsophila paniculata, Kochia laniflora, Marrubium vulgare), whereas five species represents the weed flora (Anthemis ruthenica, Chenopodium ficifolium, Eragrostis pilosa, Senecio vernalis, Xanthium strumarium). The majority of the newly observed species are adventives. Five species were also regarded as recent introduction regionally, although they are native in the country (mostly lowland species: Crypsis alopecuroides, Limonium gmelini subsp. hungaricum, Salsola kali, Scirpoides holoschoenus, Trifolium angulatum). Typical threats observed are landscape and habitat degradation by invasive alien species out of which 11 are newly added. Mass occurrences were detected for the following invasive alien species: Bidens frondosa, Impatiens glandulifera, Phytolacca esculenta, Xanthium italicum. 43 species are also registered, which did not have recently published data from the area. These species include more native elements representing different habitat preferences (dry grasslands, wet meadows, forest and weeds). In case of 65 species the unravelled new occurrences increased significantly, thus contributed to the clarification of their distribution pattern. It was found that the floristic data accumulated on a decade-scale are not sufficient for the analysis of floristic trends, but could serve as a good basis for surveying floristic gradients between the mountainous and lowland areas.