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Sowing is widely used for the restoration of species-rich grasslands but still there are knowledge gaps regarding the most suitable application of different seed mixtures. We tested the effect of seed mixtures application timing on the establishment of sown forbs and weed control. 36 experimental plots with nine sowing treatments were established in an abandoned cropland in Hungary. Grass-seeds, diverse forb seed mixture and the combination of the two were applied: diverse forb mixture was sown simultaneously or 1, 2 or 3 years after grass sowing, in plots sown previously with grass or in empty plots (fallows). All sowing treatments supported the rapid establishment of the sown species in large cover and hampered weed encroachment. Forbs performed better when sown into fallows than in grass-matrix and forbs establishment was worse in older fallows than in younger ones. Grasses expressed a strong priority effect, especially when forbs were sown at least two years later than grasses. We also investigated the relation between seed germinability, weather parameters and establishment success. Germination rate in the greenhouse could not predict the establishment success of forbs in the field and showed great differences between years, hence we recommend sowing target forbs in multiple years.

Due to their complex life cycles geophytes are often neglected in conservation programs, despite they are important elements of early spring communities. Their life cycle is strongly affected by weather parameters, i.e. temperature, precipitation, and light, but the effects of these parameters are often contradictory and show high intra-annual variability even within species. Deeper knowledge about the abiotic factors affecting the population dynamics of geophytes is needed to support the designation of effective conservation plans. We aimed to explore the link between weather parameters and population dynamics of Colchicum bulbocodium , an endangered and strictly protected geophyte. We monitored three life cycle stages (flowering, growing, fruiting) of 1069 individuals in permanent plots for six consecutive years. Our results showed that life cycle of C. bulbocodium was strongly related to the actual weather parameters; the lagged effect of the previous year was weaker. Increasing temperature and lack of cold periods had negative effect on all life stages. We highlighted that population estimation based on the number of flowering individuals in a single year can underestimate population size by 40–83%. Monitoring in years following wet and cold springs and cold winters could increase the accuracy of population estimations of the flowering individuals.

In intensively used landscapes biodiversity is often restricted to fragmented habitats. Exploring the biodiversity potential of habitat fragments is essential in order to reveal their complementary role in maintaining landscape-scale biodiversity. We investigated the conservation potential of dry grassland fragments in the Great Hungarian Plain, i.e. patch-like habitats on ancient burial mounds and linear-shaped habitats in verges, and compared them to continuous grasslands. We focused on plant taxonomic diversity, species richness of specialists, generalists and weeds, and the phylogenetic diversity conserved in the habitats. Verges meshing the landscape are characterised by a small core area and high level of disturbance. Their species pool was more similar to grasslands than mounds due to the lack of dispersal limitations. They held high species richness of weeds and generalists and only few specialists. Verges preserved only a small proportion of the evolutionary history of specialists, which were evenly distributed between the clades. Isolated mounds are characterised by a small area, a high level of environmental heterogeneity, and a low level of disturbance. Steep slopes of species accumulation curves suggest that high environmental heterogeneity likely contributes to the high species richness of specialists on mounds. Mounds preserved the same amount of phylogenetic diversity represented by the branch-lengths as grasslands. Abundance-weighted evolutionary distinctiveness of specialists was more clustered in these habitats due to the special habitat conditions. For the protection of specialists in transformed landscapes it is essential to focus efforts on preserving both patch-like and linear grassland fragments containing additional components of biodiversity.

We assessed cognitive function of female rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients and analyze the determinants, with special focus on cerebrovascular morphology. Sixty methotrexate (MTX-) or biologic-treated RA patients and 39 healthy controls were included in a cross-sectional study. Smoking habits, alcohol intake and time spent in education were recorded. Standard measures were performed to assess cognitive function (Montreal Cognitive Assessment, MOCA; Trail Making Test, TMT; Victoria Stroop Test, VST; Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, WAIS; Benton Visual Retention test, BVRT), depression (Beck Depression Inventory, BDI), anxiety (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, STAIT/S) and general health status (Short Form 36, SF-36). Mean disease activity (28-joint Disease Activity Score, mDAS28; erythrocyte sedimentation rate, mESR; C-reactive protein, mCRP) of the past 12 months was calculated; anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (CCP) and rheumatoid factor (RF) were assessed. Cerebral vascular lesions and atrophy, carotid intima–media thickness (cIMT) and plaques, as well as median cerebral artery (MCA) circulatory reserve capacity (CRC) were assessed by brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), carotid ultrasound and transcranial Doppler, respectively. Cognitive function tests showed impairment in RA vs controls. Biologic- vs MTX-treated subgroups differed in TMT-A. Correlations were identified between cognitive function and depression/anxiety tests. WAIS, STAIS, STAIT and BDI correlated with most SF-36 domains. Numerous cognitive tests correlated with age and lower education. Some also correlated with disease duration, mESR and mDAS28. Regarding vascular pathophysiology, cerebral vascular lesions were associated with VST-A, carotid plaques with multiple cognitive parameters, while MCA and CRC with MOCA, BVRT and BDI. RA patients have significant cognitive impairment. Cognitive dysfunction may occur together with or independently of depression/anxiety. Older patients and those with lower education are at higher risk to develop cognitive impairment. Cognitive screening might be a useful tool to identify subgroups to be further investigated for cerebrovascular pathologies.

Soil seed banks play a central role in vegetation dynamics and may be an important source of ecological restoration. However, the vast majority of seed bank studies examined only the uppermost soil layers (0-10 cm); hence, our knowledge on the depth distribution of seed bank and the ecological significance of deeply buried seeds is limited. The aim of our study was to examine the fine-scale vertical distribution of soil seed bank to a depth of 80 cm, which is one of the largest studied depth gradients so far. Our model systems were alkaline grasslands in East-Hungary, characterised by harsh environmental conditions, due to Solonetz soil reference group with Vertic horizon. We asked the following questions: (1) How do the seedling density and species richness of soil seed bank change along a vertical gradient and to what depth can germinable seeds be detected? (2) What is the relationship between the depth distribution of the germinable seeds and the species traits? In each of the five study sites, four soil cores (4 cm diameter) of 80 cm depth were collected with an auger for soil seed bank analysis. Each sample was divided into sixteen 5-cm segments by depth (320 segments in total). Samples were concentrated by washing over sieves and then germinated in an unheated greenhouse. Soil penetration resistance was measured next to each core location (0-80 cm depth, 1-cm resolution). We tested the number and species richness of seedlings observed in the soil segments ( = 320), using negative binomial generalized linear regression models, in which sampling layer and penetration resistance were the predictor variables. We ran the models for morphological groups (graminoids/forbs), ecological groups (grassland species/weeds) and life-form categories (short-lived/perennial). We also tested whether seed shape index, seed mass, water requirement or salt tolerance of the species influence the vertical distribution of their seed bank. Germinable seed density and species richness in the seed bank decreased with increasing soil depth and penetration resistance. However, we detected nine germinable seeds of six species even in the deepest soil layer. Forbs, grassland species and short-lived species occurred in large abundance in deep layers, from where graminoids, weeds and perennial species were missing. Round-shaped seeds were more abundant in deeper soil layers compared to elongated ones, but seed mass and ecological indicator values did not influence the vertical seed bank distribution. Our research draws attention to the potential ecological importance of the deeply buried seeds that may be a source of recovery after severe disturbance. As Vertisols cover 335 million hectares worldwide, these findings can be relevant for many regions and ecosystems globally. We highlight the need for similar studies in other soil and habitat types to test whether the presence of deep buried seeds is specific to soils with Vertic characteristics.

This study aimed to monitor the demographic changes of some closely related species based on bird ringing data from the CES (Constant Effort Sites) program in Hungary between 2007 and 2018, and to explore the reasons for these demographic changes. The CES program tracks breeding bird populations with standard methods. The studied species breeding in Hungary were from genera , and . Among these species, the trends of some forest birds, like Eurasian Blackcap , Lesser Whitethroat , Common Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler ( showed no substantial changes, and one of the open-habitat species, the Barred Warbler – a long distant migrant – showed decreasing trends. The Garden Warbler – a trans-Saharan migrant but forest dweller – also experienced population declines. Short-distance migrants maintained stable populations. Common Whitethroat productivity displayed an increasing trend to compensate for population decline. Upon examining the Eurasian Blackcap, this study detected a strong relationship between the number of adult birds, productivity, and the number of adults captured the following year.

Understanding germination characteristics, including optimal stratification requirements of target species, is necessary for supporting grassland restoration yet poorly understood. This knowledge is essential for effective conservation, particularly with climate change altering germination conditions and thus germination capacity of plants. Here we studied the effect of three different durations of warm dry and cold wet stratification treatments, and their combinations in a full factorial design (in total 15 different pre-germination treatments), on the germination capacity of 48 grassland species native to Central Europe. Stratification treatments modelled present and forecasted summer (1–3 months warm period) and winter (1–3 months cold period) temperature conditions, while the study of the combined effect of these treatments is especially important in spring-germinating species. As response variables, we calculated relative response indexes and germination uncertainties of each species separately and applied general linear models to study the effect of treatments on these variables. We found clear effect of warm- or cold stratification on relative response indexes only in four species: strong positive response to warm stratification was found in Silene conica , while strong positive response to cold stratification was found in Agrimonia eupatoria , Echium vulgare , and Plantago lanceolata . The responses to treatment combinations were contradictory or lacked clear trends in most of the species. Germination uncertainty in general was high for all species, supporting the fact that Central European grassland species often rely on bet hedging as risk spreading strategy, to avoid unfavourable conditions during seedling establishment.

Az egyre erősödő globalizációnak és a távolságok könnyű áthidalhatóságának köszönhetően az ember képes a diaspórák globális szintű terjesztésére. Az emberi közvetítéssel végmbemenő magterjedés folyamatának alapvetően két típusa ismert; a szándékos és a véletlen terjesztés. A véletlen terjesztés során a diaspórák járművekkel vagy ruházattal kerülnek új élőhelyekre. Mivel a legtöbb inváziós faj terjedése a véletlen terjesztés következménye, az utóbbi időben egyre nagyobb figyelem irányul ezekre a terjedési formákra.A XX. század közepétől tudjuk, hogy az ember a ruházatával is terjeszthet diaspórákat (epianthropochoria). Annak ellenére, hogy eddig közel 500 növényfaj diaspórájáról derült már ki, hogy képes epianthropochor módon is a terjedésre, mindössze 28 tanulmány foglalkozott ezzel a jelenséggel.A doktori értekezést képező három tanulmány célja az epianthropochoria folyamatának mélyreható megismerése, valamint a folyamat további részleteinek vizsgálata volt.Az első fejezet alapjául szolgáló tanulmányban egy nagyléptékű terepi felmérést végeztünk, melyben a zoknira és a cipőre tapadt diaspórákat, a terjedést befolyásoló táji és vektor jellemzőket, illetve a növényi jellegeket vizsgáltuk. A kísérletet 88 személy bevonásával végeztük, melynek során 39 területről 251 mintát (2008 részmintát) gyűjtöttünk. A mintákból összesen 229 növényfaj diaspóráját azonosítottuk, melyből 137 faj esetében elsőként jeleztük, hogy képes a ruházattal is a terjedésre. Az azonosított fajok többsége gyom- és zavarástűrő faj volt, de a természetes élőhelyek generalista és pionír fajai is jelentős számban voltak jelen a mintákban. Kimutattuk, hogy az élőhelyi változók (évszak, élőhely típus) és a vektor jellemzők (a tevékenység típusa, a résztvevők neme, a ruházat típusa) nagymértékben befolyásolják a folyamatot. Bár a vizsgált növényi jellegek nem mutattak szignifikáns hatást, kimutattuk, hogy az epianthropochoria nem csak az epizoochor terjedésű fajoknak, hanem egyéb terjesztési formákhoz alkalmazkodott fajoknak is lehetőséget biztosít a terjedésre.A második fejezet alapjául szolgáló cikkben egy kísérletsorozatot végeztünk, melyben 18 növényfaj diaspórájának csírázását teszteltük mosógépi mosást követően. Emellett három különböző szövettípuson (farmer, polár és pamut) teszteltük a diaspórák tapadási sikerességét. Arra voltunk kíváncsiak hogyan befolyásolja a mosógépi mosás a diaspórák csírázóképességét (csíranövényszám), fitneszét (a csíranövények föld feletti száraz biomasszájának tömege) és a csírázás dinamikáját (csírázási szinkronitás), valamint, hogy az általunk vizsgált diaspórák mekkora tapadási potenciállal rendelkeznek a mosás előtt és után. Eredményeinkből kiderült, hogy a diaspórák csírázóképességét leginkább a mosási intenzitás befolyásolja. A kímélő mosás (30°C) után nem csökkent a diaspórák csírázási aránya, míg intenzív mosás (60°C) következtében a fajok felénél tapasztaltunk csökkenést. Az intenzív mosás (60°C) következtében csaknem a fajok felénél figyeltünk meg deszinkronizált csírázást. Deszinkronizált csírázás során a diaspórák eltérő időben kezdenek csírázni, ami lényegesen befolyásolhatja a megtelepedés kimenetelét. Megnő az esélye annak, hogy bizonyos diaspórák épp a megfelelő időben kezdik meg csírázásukat és könnyedén megtelepedhetnek az új területen.A diaspórák tapadási sikerét illetően a vizsgált ruhadarabok közül a legalacsonyabb magmegtartó képességgel a farmernadrág rendelkezett. Kiderült, hogy a polár pulóver és a pamut zokni viszont megfelelő tapadási felületet biztosít számos diaspóra számára. Mivel a diaspórák egy része mosógépi mosást követően is a ruhán maradhat, akár jelentős távolságra is terjedhetnek. Az emberek személyes felelősségvállalása kiemelten fontos, hiszen a ruhadarabok és a mosási hőmérséklet megfelelő kiválasztásával jelentősen csökkenteni lehet a diaspórák terjedési esélyeit.A harmadik tanulmányban a diaspórák emberi ruházattal történő terjedéséhez kapcsolódó megelőzési és védekezési stratégiák összegyűjtése volt a célunk, valamint, hogy további javaslatok fogalmazzunk meg. Az irodalmi áttekintés során összesen 24 releváns publikáció eredményeit dolgoztuk fel.

Enhanced progression of urinary albumin excretion in IDDM during puberty. L Barkai , I Vámosi and K Lukács Department of Pediatrics, Postgraduate Medical Faculty, Imre Haynal University of Health Sciences, Borsod County Teaching Hospital, Miskolc, Hungary. Abstract OBJECTIVE: To determine whether the progression of urinary albumin excretion rate (AER) is higher during puberty than before or after this period. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: A prospective study was conducted in which normoalbuminuric prepubertal (n = 20), pubertal (n = 28), and postpubertal (n = 26) IDDM groups matched for diabetes duration and long-term metabolic control were followed for 3 years. At 6-month intervals, 24-h urine collection was used to determine AER. RESULTS: AER increased significantly over a period of 3 years in the pubertal (P = 0.001) and postpubertal (P = 0.003) subjects but not in prepubertal subjects. The annual progression of AER was significantly higher in the pubertal group than in the prepubertal (P = 0.001) or postpubertal (P = 0.001) groups. Six pubertal, two postpubertal, and none of the prepubertal subjects developed microalbuminuria (AER > or = 20 micrograms/min on two consecutive occasions) over a 3-year period (P = 0.047). Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that the risk of development of microalbuminuria was increased in pubertal subjects compared with the prepubertal and postpubertal subjects (adjusted relative risk [95% CI]: 4.3 [1.5-9.3], P = 0.012, and 2.1 [1.1-5.0], P = 0.023, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Puberty represents an independent risk of the development of microalbuminuria in diabetes. This findings suggests that the endocrine changes of puberty lead to an accelerated process of early kidney damage in diabetes. In pediatric diabetes care, screening for microalbuminuria is needed soon after the onset of puberty.