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Mondró-halom kurgan (Hencida, East Hungary), a refugium of loess grassland vegetation
143-149Views:480Fragments of the natural grassland vegetation are often preserved only in those areas which are inadequate for arable farming. In many cases kurgans hold the last remnants of dry grasslands in lowland areas, like the Great Hungarian Plain. They also have an essential role in preserving cultural and landscape values. Moreover, they harbour several rare plant and animal species. Our aim was to explore the vegetation of the Mondró-halom kurgan (Hencida, East Hungary). Altogether we found 74 vascular plant species in the loess grassland of the kurgan. Several rare species of the Bihari-sík region, such as Inula germanica, Ranunculus illyricus and Rosa gallica were also detected. The steep slopes of the kurgan with various micro-sites and exposures supported a species-rich vegetation. Instead of its small area it harboured several forest steppic species and several steppic flora elements (Continental, Pontic-Mediterranean, Pontic, Pontic-Pannonic and Turanian).
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Discovery of a new large population of Prunus tenella on a young old-field suggests remarkable regeneration ability of the species
32-38Views:299Kurgans are ancient burial mounds built by nomadic steppic cultures across Eurasia.
These monuments are important cultural landmarks, and often also preserve the remnants of dry grasslands even in intensively used agricultural landscapes. In the past centuries, many kurgans have been ploughed and their vegetation has been destroyed. Due to their recent inclusion in the agrienvironmental schemes in Hungary, crop production has been ceased on many kurgans in the past years. Here we present an interesting botanical discovery which we made during our country-scale survey of spontaneously recovering grasslands on kurgans. We discovered a large population of approximately 15,000 shoots of the protected loess grassland plant Prunus tenella Batsch (syn.: Amygdalus nana L.) on the Fekete-halom kurgan near Tiszainoka, in the centre of the Great Hungarian Plain. The mound had been used as an intensive cropland until 2014. Most probably, the plants could re-establish from some hidden shoots that could persist in the refuge provided by the concrete elements of a geodesic mark, and after the cessation of ploughing it could expand onto the north and west-facing slopes of the mound by sprouting and by germination from the persistent soil seed bank. Besides the conservation importance of this floristic discovery, it also suggests that spontaneous regeneration can be an effective restoration measure and that kurgans abandoned from agricultural cultivation can serve as suitable habitats for rare and endangered species. -
Botanical comparison of man-made landforms in the Nagykunság and Nagy-Sárrét regions (E Hungary)
65-76Views:187Loess grasslands are among the most important vegetation types of the Great Hungarian Plain. This paper compares the composition of vegetation situated on three types of man-made landforms (burial mounds, Devil’s dykes and river dikes) which were built in different historical times. I studied the similarities and differences in their vegetation, focusing on the rare species and plant associations. I studied six burial mounds, two Devil’s dykes and four river dikes. All of the studied landforms were covered by loess steppes, loess cliffs or Artemisia salt steppes. Devil’s dykes had the most valuable vegetation and they preserve a very diverse flora in the landscape.
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Contributions to the flora of kurgans in the Middle Tisza region
94–105Views:502Kurgans are ancient burial mounds built by nomadic steppic cultures. Embedded in the heavily transformed landscapes of the Carpathian Basin they often serve as last refuges for rare and endangered plant species. In our paper we publish floristic data collected on 82 kurgans located in the area of the Hortobágy National Park Directorate. Our dataset covers 64 CEU quarter quadrates, and the territory of 45 settlements. We provide data on 39 taxa that are either protected (e.g. Anchusa barrelieri, Centaurea solstitialis, Ranunculus illyricus and Phlomis tuberosa) or regionally rare (e.g. Aegilops cylindrica, Astragalus austriacus, Glaucium corniculatum and Trifolium diffusum). Our records demonstrate that kurgans have a vital role in maintaining the populations of rare and endangered grassland species even in transformed landscapes.
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Short communications
257–266Views:5521. Occurrence of Ophioglossum vulgatum in a dry loess grassland in the Tiszafüred–Kunhegyes plain (Great Hungarian Plain)
2. Dolomite rocky grassland species introduced by raw materials of a road construction (Kecskemét, Great Hungarian Plain)
3. Geranium divaricatum on the Hevesi-sík, next to Füzesabony (Great Hungarian Plain)
4. Ophrys sphegodes in the Castriferreicum (W Hungary)
5. First occurrence of Cephalanthera longifolia var. rosea in Hungary
6. Spiraea crenata in the Eastern Bakony Mts (Transdanubian Range, Hungary)
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Remnants of closed oak woods on loess in the Mezőföld (Pulmonario mollis-Quercetum roboris Kevey 2008)
66–93Views:156The phytosociological characterization of closed oak forests occurring in the loess-covered part of Central Hungary (Mezőföld) is presented. Such forest fragments are found very sporadically in that predominantly treeless region, mostly in semi-dry habitats of north-facing hillsides. This plant community represents an intermediate stage between open steppe woodland (Aceri tatarici-Quercetum pubescentis-roboris) and closed mesic oak-hornbeam forests (Corydali cavae-Carpinetum). Analyses of 20 phytosociological samples using multivariate grouping methods (cluster analysis, principal coordinates analysis) showed a clear difference between these samples and samples of similar communities occurring in the area. In the species composition the characteristic elements of dry and mesic oak forests (Quercetea pubescentis-petraeae, Quercetalia cerridis, Aceri tatarici-Quercion and Fagetalia, respectively) played a major role. On the other hand, dry grassland species (Festuco-Brometea, Festucetalia valesiacae, Festucion rupicolae, etc.) were much less significant than in steppe woodlands. In terms of chorology, European and sub-Mediterranean floristic elements were dominant in the samples, while the proportion of continental elements was substantially smaller than that in steppe woodlands. As a result, our samples were identified with the plant association Pulmonario mollis-Quercetum roboris Kevey 2008, which is classified into the suballiance Polygonato latifolio-Quercenion roboris Kevey 2008 in the phytosociological system.