#Publication: Our paper, led by Maxime Eeraerts, has been published in Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment with the title: "Organic management enhances wild bee richness but does not consistently improve crop pollination in apple orchards". doi.org/10.1016/j.ag...

#Publication: @edinatorok.bsky.social and Péter co-authored a global multi-author paper in Science Advances with the title "Plant diversity modifies multi-trophic interactions in croplands, grasslands and forests". doi.org/10.1126/scia...

Plant diversity modifies multi-trophic interactions in croplands, grasslands and forests

Plant diversity differentially affects trophic interactions across ecosystems.

doi.org

#Publication: Our paper, led by Dávid and @edinatorok.bsky.social, is published in Basic and Applied Ecology: "Functional roles and plant-mediated bottom-up effects influence arthropod responses to habitat fragmentation". doi.org/10.1016/j.ba...

#Publication: Our paper, led by @edinatorok.bsky.social, is published in Insect Conservation and Diversity: "Fragmented grasslands in different landscape structures provide different opportunities for cavity-nesting Hymenoptera". doi.org/10.1111/icad...

Fragmented grasslands in different landscape structures provide different opportunities for cavity‐nesting Hymenoptera

Grassland fragmentation effects on cavity-nesting Hymenoptera are habitat-specific. Isolated sand steppe fragments are associated with higher brood-cell abundance. In loess steppes, higher flower fr...

doi.org

#Conference: Silva and Marci attended the XIII European Congress of Entomology in Tours, France (July 2026). Silva presented her poster on carabid diversity in abandoned fields, while Marci showed how solar parks drive ground beetle assemblages. www.ece2026.org

#Publication: We published a paper in Basic and Applied Ecology with the title "Context-dependent effects of habitat type and grassland fragment size on bird diversity in European and African grassland-forestry mosaics". doi.org/10.1016/j.ba...

📢 Our article has just been published in the latest issue of #RESInsectConsDiv: "Bird nests support a diverse, dynamic and distinctive macroarthropod community on the forest floor" resjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... 🍁🪰🪲🐜🕷️ #conservation #BialowiezaForest #ornithology

Bird nests support a diverse, dynamic and distinctive macroarthropod community on the forest floor

Nests built by vertebrates, such as birds and mammals, constitute diverse microhabitats that are inhabited by many arthropod taxa and represent important hubs of local biodiversity. Compared to leaf.....

resjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

#Publication: Péter co-authored a paper published in Hydrobiologia with the title "Organic rice farming enhances conservation value, while water conductivity, a proxy for nutrient inputs, best predicts aquatic plant biodiversity in East‑Central Europe". doi.org/10.1007/s107...

#Publication: Péter co-authored a paper published in Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment with the title "Adjacent flower strips provide no additional reproductive benefit over permanent grassy field margins for arable weeds". doi.org/10.1016/j.ag...

#Publication: Kata co-authored the paper „Extreme drought facilitates shift to non-native C4 perennial grass dominance in a temperate grassland in Central Europe” in Biological Invasions. doi.org/10.1007/s105...

Extreme drought facilitates shift to non-native C4 perennial grass dominance in a temperate grassland in Central Europe - Biological Invasions

Climate change is expected to facilitate the spread of many alien C4 grasses, which perform better in warmer climates than C3 species. Furthermore, extreme climatic events may promote plant invasions by suppressing native species. Despite several well-documented cases of C4 perennial grass invasions, the role of extreme events in facilitating plant invasions is rarely documented. Sporobolus cryptandrus, a North American C4 perennial bunchgrass, has recently been established in several European locations, including mass invasions in natural grasslands. Given the early stage of S. cryptandrus invasion and its potential for future spread, a better understanding of the dynamics and mechanisms of its invasion is urgently needed. In a natural sand steppe in Hungary, an EU priority habitat type with one of the largest S. cryptandrus populations in Europe, we monitored S. cryptandrus invasion and changes in species dominance in permanent plots annually from 2022 to 2024, which included an extreme drought in 2022. In the post-drought years, we found a gradual increase in both the frequency of S. cryptandrus and the number of plots where it was the dominant species. Following the drought-induced dieback of the dominant native grass, Festuca vaginata, the cover of S. cryptandrus almost doubled from 2023 to 2024 and approached that of F. vaginata. This expansion was positively related to F. vaginata dieback. Our study demonstrates that S. cryptandrus can spread and become dominant rapidly in natural grasslands. Furthermore, our results provide empirical evidence on how extreme events can accelerate an ongoing plant invasion process.

doi.org

#Publication: Kata co-authored the paper „Short-term seed banking enables adaptive, multi-year seeding strategies in grassland restoration”, published in Global Ecology and Conservation. doi.org/10.1016/j.ge...

#Event: @edinatorok.bsky.social participated in the EPIC-FLY Intermediate Course, where she learned and practiced identifying hoverflies to species level. Hoverflies are among the most important pollinators, and accurate species identification is essential for research and conservation.

#Publication: Péter co-authored a paper published in Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment with the title "Synergistic effects of flower strips and landscape complexity buffer arthropods against warming and drought – A meta-analysis". doi.org/10.1016/j.ag...

@edinatorok.bsky.social participated in the City Nature Challenge Budapest iNaturalist program, where she introduced local pollinators to families in Városmajor Park and shared insights about the species living in the park. www.citynaturechallenge.org

#Publication: The article, authored by Riho, Edina and Péter, has been published in Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment under the title "Different responses of pollinator groups to crop field boundary-interior gradients – a meta-analysis." www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

#Symposium: Péter was invited by Prof. Sandra Lavorel, annual chair of Collége de France to give a talk in the symposium "Toward a Functional Ecology of the Landscape for a Resilient and Sustainable Future". youtu.be/DIBDMlzLTk8

Sandra Lavorel - Biodiversity and Ecosystems | Collège de France

college-de-france.fr

Photo competition: Tomáš’s photo of a tree‑trunk spider made the Top 20 macro shots in the Natura Mirabilis competition organized by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Taken during our 2022 fieldwork in NE Thailand with Robi and colleagues. mta.hu/english

Exhibition: Niki's graphics are exhibited in the Biological Institute of the University of Szeged. The drawings made with a felt-tip pen depict plants and invertebrates. u-szeged.hu/ikikk/2026-m...

Tudomány és művészet találkozása a Biológia Intézetben

Nem mindennapi kiállítás nyílt az SZTE TTIK Biológia Intézetében: az intézet oktatói és kutatói ezúttal nem tudományos eredményeikkel, hanem festményeikkel és grafikáikkal mutatkoznak be a közönség el...

u-szeged.hu

The article, co-authored by @rihomarja.bsky.social, and led by Philipp Schwemmer, has been published in Communications Biology under the title "High annual-cycle repeatability suggests low flexibility to environmental changes in a near-threatened migratory shorebird." doi.org/10.1038/s420...

High annual-cycle repeatability suggests low flexibility to environmental changes in a near-threatened migratory shorebird - Communications Biology

Long-term GPS-tracking of the near-threatened Eurasian Curlew across eight years shows a high repeatability of its entire annual cycle and suggests a low potential for adaptation to environmental chan...

doi.org

#Editorial: With Kata's lead we published an editorial paper in Landscape Ecology about our collection "Effects of agricultural landscapes on biodiversity, ecosystem services, and yield" featuring 15 papers. doi.org/10.1007/s109... link.springer.com/collections/...

Effects of agricultural landscapes on biodiversity, ecosystem services, and yield - Landscape Ecology

Landscape Ecology -

doi.org

Publication: Péter has published a Worldview paper in Nature Cities with the title "Bridging urban and rural futures". He argued that cities and their surrounding villages must be planned as one integrated region to achieve sustainable urban futures. doi.org/10.1038/s442...

Bridging urban and rural futures - Nature Cities

Growing up as a city dweller and later experiencing village life as a student, I have witnessed the profound post-communist transformations in Hungary’s urban and rural landscapes. This dual perspecti...

doi.org

Publication: Marci and Robi co-authored a paper published in Global Ecology and Conservation: Stoces et al. "Dispersal ability modulates fluctuating asymmetry in carabid beetle populations across solar parks and extensive grasslands." www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Dispersal ability modulates fluctuating asymmetry in carabid beetle populations across solar parks and extensive grasslands

Solar parks are expanding rapidly across temperate landscapes, yet their consequences for insect developmental instability remain poorly resolved. We …

sciencedirect.com

#Publication: Péter co-authored a paper published in Biological Reviews, "Orchard netting impacts on biodiversity leading to cascading effects at the ecosystem level". We show that orchard nets deter pests but also filter and simplify biotic communities. doi.org/10.1002/brv....

Orchard netting impacts on biodiversity leading to cascading effects at the ecosystem level

Agriculture must ensure food production without further compromising the ecosystem functions upon which it depends. Agricultural practices should therefore avoid harming farmland biodiversity, especi...

doi.org

Ranking: Péter was ranked as the most cited Hungarian ecologist according to Research.com. research.com/scientists-r...

Symposium: Péter gave a talk (in Hungarian) on the importance of functional diversity at the symposium “Hungarian Supra-individual Biology in the Early 21st Century”, organized to mark the 200th anniversary of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

Robi co-authored an article published in Journal of Environmental Management, "Timing of grazing and vegetation type modulate the effect of traditional pastoral land use on arthropod communities". We showed that optimal timing of grazing and ungrazed patches are important. doi.org/10.1016/j.je...

Great to be at the #FutureforButterflies. Tomorrow I will speak about this new paper and our work with #biodiversitymonitoring using #Insect #cameratraps and #AI as part of @mambo-project.eu @onestop-project.eu and @insectai.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...?

Emerging technologies for pollinator monitoring

Efficient tools for monitoring pollinator populations are urgently needed to address their reported declines. Here, we review advanced technologies fo…

sciencedirect.com

#Workshop: In the frame of the SAFER project, Vera organized the first workshop with vineyard farmers, who agreed to host ecological surveys and contributed valuable insights to support both ecological and social research.

Policy news: The EU Directorate-General for Environment is promoting our Nature Sustainability paper with the title "Restoring nature-rich landscapes around villages is a matter of social and environmental justice". environment.ec.europa.eu/news/restori...

Environment

EU policies aim to protect the environment and biodiversity, minimize risks to human health, and promote the transition to a circular economy.

environment.ec.europa.eu

#Defense: @lakatostom.bsky.social has successfully defended his PhD at the Eötvös University with the title "The effects of urbanisation and agricultural intensification on bird communities" under the supervision of Péter. Congratulations! # link to Eötvös University: www.elte.hu/en