Gergely Király

Alien aquatic vascular plants in Hungary (Pannonian ecoregion): Historical aspects, data set and trends

Estimating the extent of biological invasions is critical in predicting the effect of exotic species. We investigated the occurrence and number of alien freshwater plants and give information on the composition of alien aquatic flora, their trend in time, invasion pathway, and their invasive character.

Assessment of endangered synanthropic plants of Hungary with special attention to arable weeds

Abstract In the present study, species were selected from the new Red List of the vascular flora of Hungary which can be regarded as a weed. For each species, current conservation status and the most important traits were assessed. Altogether 149 weed species were found to be at risk according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) categories: 11 species are extinct, 11 are critically endangered, 27 are endangered, 26 are vulnerable, 62 are near threatened and 12 are data deficient. These species belong to 37 plant families, from which the most important are Caryophyllaceae, Brassicaceae, Asteraceae, Scrophulariaceae, Chenopodiaceae, Poaceae and Fabaceae. The most significant chorological elements are Mediterranean (28%) and Eurasian (27%); endemic (Pannonian) taxa constitute only 5.4%. Over 90% of these species are of native or archaeophyte origin, according to their residence time. Considering the main habitat types, 46% of the species are originated from dry habitats, 23% from arable lands, 17.5% from wet habitats and 13.5% from ruderal habitats. In the life form spectra, a pronounced dominance of therophytes (81%) is represented. The factor that currently offers the greatest conflict to the conservation of endangered weed species in Hungary are side effects of strong eradication campaigns against the invasive Ambrosia artemisiifolia.

Delineation of the Pannonian vegetation region

Phytogeographical regions have been set up traditionally on the basis of the flora. Several examples indicate that the potential natural vegetation is also suitable for this purpose although the flora- and vegetation-based boundaries do not necessarily overlap. We define a vegetation region as an area where the physical geographic features are rather uniform, and which consists of landscapes with floristically/structurally similar vegetation and/or their repetitive mosaics. In this paper, we delimited the boundaries of the Pannonian region based on the distribution of characteristic plant communities. The line runs most often on the border between Quercus cerris-Quercus petraea and Carpinus betulus/Fagus sylvatica dominated landscapes. We provided descriptions of the potential vegetation on both sides of the boundary. The region has an area of 167,012 km2. The region is either in direct contact with the neighboring regions (e.g., Western Carpathians), or is separated from them by transitional areas (towards the Eastern Alps), and character-poor areas with non-Pannonian, non-Alpine, non-Dinaric vegetation (in the southwest to the Western Balkan). Often, the boundary does not coincide with the boundary of the Pannonicum floristic province. We found that vegetation region boundaries can help reevaluate long-established floristic region boundaries. The boundary of the ’floristic Pannonian region’ also requires revision based on integrated distribution databases and statistical analyses. We argue that the method applied here is simple, repeatable and falsifiable. Our map provides an opportunity to the European Union to use a scientifically more sound biogeographical circumscription of the Pannonian region in her Natura 2000 and other programs.

Abandonment status and long-term monitoring of strict forest reserves in the Pannonian biogeographical region

Abstract The Pannonian region is situated in the Carpathian basin where forests have been used intensively for centuries. The article shows a map and a tabular overview of the forest reserves featured as forests “left for free development” of the region, and presents the most important stand structural characteristics of beech, mesophytic and thermophilous deciduous forests surveyed recently. The sampling points of six sites were selected to provide preliminary descriptive statistics according to the main types and abandonment status groups (recently managed, long abandoned and old-growth or primary stands) of these forests. In old-growth and primary stands the composition (list and mixture ratio of tree species) and stand structure characteristics [gap class distribution, stem density, distribution of relative crown classes and broad diameter at breast height (at 130 cm) classes, density of thick snags, and the amount of lying dead wood] proved to be similar to other European deciduous natural forests, while the abandoned and recently managed stands indicate that these forests are in a transitional stage towards natural ones.

Herbarium database of hungarian orchids I. Methodology, dataset, historical aspects and taxa

The paper introduces the Herbarium Database of Hungarian Orchids which contains all records of orchid (Orchidaceae) specimens stored in the Hungarian herbaria. All data from the herbarium sheets were entered into the database, and secondary data were also added it; including a taxonomic revision in line with current theory. Only unique data was considered, yielding 7,658 records of 55 species from 452 collectors. It covers the whole territory of Hungary, and spans two centuries ranging from 1804 to the present. The temporal frequency of collections shows a peak in the middle of the 20th century. The most effective collectors came from this era, and the name of Rezső Soó and his followers can be mentioned as most prominent. As in other countries, a decline in collection is seen in the last decades of the 20th century. A geographically uneven coverage of collections was observed, and the such heavily underrepresented regions could be identified with the help of the database. However, the value of collection for scientific purposes is emphasised, as can be readily seen in this database. Taxonomically, seven recently described species could be identified, which were collected before their description under other names more than one century ago. On the other hand, the earlier presence of species now considered to be extinct could be unequivocally proven, as in the case of Malaxis monophyllos. The multiple application of herbaria is illustrated by some examples, reinforcing unambiguously the usefulness of collecting for scientific purposes. Furthermore, new, as yet unforeseen, application of herbarium collections can be expected.

Re-evaluation of the Panicum capillare complex (Poaceae) in Croatia

Abstract The Panicum capillare complex includes several taxa, among them P. capillare L., which is usually considered to be an established alien throughout Europe, whereas other species are recorded only as casuals. A new representative of the complex, P. riparium H. Scholz was described from Germany in 2002, and shortly after its description was recorded in several countries on the continent. In the course of herbarium revisions and recent field studies the authors documented several localities of the species in Croatia as well. The paper presents a new key for the determination of Croatian species of the complex and anticipates the invasion of P. riparium in the sub-Mediterranean regions of the Balkan Peninsula.

Remote locality of the littoral Carex extensa (Cyperaceae) in Hungary — long distance dispersal from coastal to inland salt marshes

A remarkable population of Carex extensa (Cyperaceae) was found south of Lake Fertő (Neusiedler See) in Hungary in 2012. This species typically occurs in coastal salt marshes in Europe and was hitherto unknown from the Pannonian Basin. The locality is situated in a territory which has been embanked in 1911. Keeping also in mind that the vegetation developed here from reed beds to saline habitats, we conclude that C. extensa reached the salt marshes of the area through long distance dispersal by water birds from the European coast in the last century. Nevertheless, several other maritime littoral species grow in the region, and the possibility that there is a hidden population of C. extensa at another site(s) nearby cannot be excluded. Lake Fertő is often described as the “westernmost steppe lake” and supports one of the richest European inland littoral floras. Although it appears likely that C. extensa has only recently colonised the site, we consider this discovery to be of significant biogeographical importance.

TAXONOMICAL AND CHOROLOGICAL NOTES 1 (1–19)

Th e present part of the series of miscellaneous new records provides new chorological data of one moss and ten vascular plants. Six species (Ammannia coccinea, Chenopodium pumilio, Elodea nuttallii, Lindernia procumbens, Paspalum dilatatum, Verbena supina) and one hybrid (Potamogeton ×angustifolius) are reported for the fi rst time from the territory of Albania, one (Potamogeton pusillus) is confi rmed there and it is ascertained that one further species (Potamogeton praelongus) was previously reported there in error. One alien species (Ammannia coccinea) is reported from the territory of the Republic of Macedonia for the fi rst time and one alien (Atriplex micrantha) from Hungary for the fi rst time. One species (Ptilium crista-castrensis) is new to the southern Nyírség region (E Hungary) and one (Carex pilulifera) is new for the Aggtelek, Bükk, and Zemplén Mts (N Hungary).