ABSTRACT Afforestation of formerly open, water‐limited habitats is a globally widespread form of land conversion, driven by the need for timber and non‐timber forest products, and capturing atmospheric carbon. However, increased tree cover can adversely affect hydrological cycles by increasing evapotranspiration and reducing downslope water yield, threatening agricultural production and water‐dependent habitats. Here, we assessed the effect of afforestation with the non‐native Robinia pseudoacacia in dry sandy upland areas of Hungary on the water supply of adjacent wetlands, and experimentally tested whether forest thinning can restore the hydrologic regime. We found that little moisture seeped down to the subsoil of plantations due to increased precipitation interception and transpiration, compared with grassy uplands. The lack of deep infiltration precluded lateral moisture seepage across the upland–wetland ecotone during the growing season. Conversely, we detected no notable interruption of lateral flows from grassy upland areas. Forest thinning (approx. 40% of the basal area) did not meaningfully improve water availability, probably because the effects of lower interception and transpiration were offset by the disruption of the understorey microclimate and the quick recovery of the canopy cover. We conclude that the afforestation of upland areas is an important contributor to wetland loss in the region and partial solutions are of limited effectiveness. We recommend a landscape‐wide reconsideration of forestry strategies on uplands and planning alternative land use types to support soil moisture infiltration. One possible approach is to restore the original open ecosystems, but supporting solar developments in these marginal areas is also a viable option.

Background and Aims Knowledge on seed persistence is vital from both theoretical and practical considerations but directly collecting persistence data for many species is unfeasible. Therefore, there is a need to identify traits associated with seed persistence, but studies about the effects of seed size and shape on persistence have yielded results varying across regions. We studied 392 species of the Pannonian flora (Central Europe) to assess (1) how seed mass and shape are related to seed persistence, (2) whether this relationship is consistent across plant functional groups, and (3) whether seed mass and shape are correlated in different functional groups. Methods We collected data on the seed mass and persistence of species and performed measurements to calculate their seed shape index, with higher values indicating greater deviation from sphericity. To account for phylogenetic non-independence, we analysed how seed mass and seed shape index affect persistence in all 392 herbaceous species and separately in four plant functional groups using phylogenetic logistic regressions. To test how seed mass and shape are related to each other in these groups, we applied phylogenetic generalized least squares regression. Key Results Across all species, both seed mass and seed shape index were negatively related to persistence, with seed mass having a stronger association. The same relationship was observed in forbs and short-lived species, but only seed shape was related to persistence in graminoid species. The relationship between seed mass and seed shape also varied between functional groups. Conclusions Consistent with many studies in other floras, both seed mass and shape were negatively related to persistence in the Pannonian flora after accounting for phylogeny. However, only seed shape was associated with persistence in graminoid species, suggesting that different factors may be at play in forbs and graminoids. Therefore, future studies of this relationship may need to treat and analyse graminoids separately.

Hemiparasitic plants are known to be able to diversify degraded grasslands by lowering the competitive power of dominant grasses. Recent research indicates that hemiparasites may also be used against invasive alien plants. Here, we tested the effects of Odontites luteus, a native European hemiparasite, on Sporobolus cryptandrus, a recently established and rapidly spreading C4 grass of North-American origin. We found that Odontites considers Sporobolus a suitable host and reduces its biomass production (and potentially its competitive ability) by approx. 50%, equaling the effect on its major native host, Festuca vaginata. However, Festuca showed severe metabolic impairment (reduced photosynthetic capacity and increased physiological stress) under hemiparasite pressure. So, the application of hemiparasites is a promising biocontrol tool against Sporobolus (and potentially other invasive C4 grasses), but it is not a silver bullet. We cannot expect a full eradication of the invasive species and a recovery of the native community but thinning monodominant Sporobolus stands to allow certain populations of native species, particularly those resistant to Odontites, to come back is a more realistic goal. This could lead to a partial recovery of the former species composition and an improvement of ecosystem functions, such as providing food for pollinators.

Bird communities are facing heavy declines, especially in agricultural landscapes. An exponentially spreading landscape feature, photovoltaic solar farms, may offer an opportunity for their conservation. Compared to croplands and other disturbed areas, solar farms may provide stable food and nesting sources, but also pose challenges due to intensive vegetation management and the presence of artificial structures. We know little about how bird communities respond to these novel habitat characteristics, preventing the formulation of evidence-based guidelines to benefit birds in solar farms. Here, we aimed to unravel drivers of bird community patterns in solar farms embedded in transformed, agricultural landscapes. Using data from 32 farms and surrounding landscapes, we found that birds in the farms form distinct communities compared to the surrounding landscape, and the bigger the farm, the more distinct the community. Indicator species of solar farms include urban and open-habitat species, while forest species only spill over to the farms from adjacent woody habitats. Although some open-habitat species regularly occur in solar farms, those that require a clean skyline avoid the farms. In addition, if better-quality grasslands are available around, open-habitat birds do not enter in higher numbers but tend to lower their preference on the farms. Birds showed seasonal variation in solar farm use; they were more common during the breeding season than in the fall. These findings highlight the potential (e.g., for open-habitat bird conservation) and the limitations (e.g. unfavourable off-season conditions) of solar farms, which we could strategically exploit and should navigate with targeted interventions, respectively.

Sporobolus cryptandrus, a North American C4 grass, has recently invaded European sandy grasslands, particularly in Central Europe (Hungary), where it threatens native plant communities. As allelopathy has been documented for other Sporobolus species, we tested whether litter from S. cryptandrus has a different effect on the germination and seedling emergence of native grassland species compared to native grass litter. We examined nine native grassland species and S. cryptandrus under three treatments: no litter (control), native litter and S. cryptandrus litter. We hypothesized the followings: (i) Litter addition can hinder germination compared to no-litter control because litter imposes physicochemical barriers. (ii) Following the Novel Weapons Hypothesis, Sporobolus litter may exert a stronger negative effect on native species than native grass litter. (iii) Litter effects are likely species-specific due to interspecific differences in traits and sensitivity to microenvironmental changes. Litter presence did not have a consistent negative effect across species, Sporobolus litter negatively affected germination only in Bromus tectorum. For most other species, the effects of native and Sporobolus litter were highly similar, suggesting that Sporobolus litter did not introduce physicochemical characteristics sufficiently different from native litter to produce distinct effects on native species. However, the suppression of B. tectorum germination by Sporobolus litter may indicate potential allelopathic effects. These findings suggest species-specific litter effects and highlight that Sporobolus litter could offer novel insights for managing B. tectorum, a problematic invader in North America. Future research should explore the long-term effects of Sporobolus litter in guiding restoration actions and invasive species management.

Aim European grasslands rank among the most species-rich ecosystems at small spatial scales, yet their biodiversity and functioning face significant threats from climate change and land-use intensification. Functional traits more effectively explain ecosystem functions (EFs) than species identity or diversity. This study examines how future climate and land cover changes will shape grassland functional composition, addressing gaps in trait-environment relationships and large-scale functional predictions.Location Europe.Time Period 1971-2000 and 2081-2100.Major Taxa Studied 4406 distinct grassland plant species.Methods We used Boosted Regression Trees to model trait-environment relationships based on vegetation plot data from sPlotOpen, GrassPlot, and the Nordic-Baltic Grassland Vegetation Database (NBGVD). We mapped the 17 trait community-weighted means (CWMs) and three functional richness (FRic) metrics under historical conditions and two future climate scenarios to assess temporal and spatial changes in grassland functional composition.Results The trait-environment relationships are highly trait-dependent: structural and size-related traits such as plant height, leaf area and seed number were consistently well-predicted, whereas other traits were less well predicted. Mean annual temperature emerged as the strongest predictor of grassland functional composition. Climate and land cover change were predicted to drive significant spatial shifts in trait CWMs and FRic. Specifically, leaf area was predicted to decline in the Baltic Sea region and Pannonian Basin, while plant height was expected to increase across Europe. Seed number was predicted to rise at higher latitudes and in mountainous regions. Moreover, FRic was expected to decrease in temperate grasslands but increase at high latitudes and mountainous regions.Main Conclusions Our findings reveal distinct spatial patterns in functional shifts, reflecting plant adaptation to future environmental conditions. The increase in FRic at high latitudes and mountainous regions also signals ecosystem transitions that may pose additional threats to further complicate grassland conservation efforts.

Background While woody plants and their relationship with fertile islands (nutrient hot-spots) have been extensively studied, how the fertile-island effect on arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) differs among shrub species remains unexplored. Aims We compared AMF communities (root colonisation and spore density) in three shrub species with distinct phylogenetic lineages and architectural traits: Onobrychis cornuta (compact cushion-forming, deciduous), Berberis integerrima (open canopy, deciduous) and Juniperus sabina (procumbent, evergreen). Methods At 13 sites where all three shrub species co-occurred, root segments and soil samples were collected to quantify AMF root colonisation, spore density and relate them to soil variables. For comparison, spore density was also determined in the adjacent herbaceous patches. Results Soil under O. cornuta and J. sabina had the highest spore densities (2019 and 1976 spores 100-g(-1) soil, respectively), while herbaceous patches had the lowest (1130 spores100-g(-1) soil). O. cornuta roots had the greatest AMF root colonisation (79.5%) and B. integerrima (41.3%) had the least. Correlations between soil parameters and AMF colonisation and spore density differed with shrub species and soil variables. Conclusions Species-specific AMF traits reflect fungal adaptation to microhabitat conditions under shrub canopies. These findings can guide shrub selection for restoring degraded subalpine ecosystems by aligning fungal symbionts with optimal environmental niches.

Livestock grazing is the most widespread management tool for sustaining grassland biodiversity worldwide. Studying grazing effects on the vegetation composition is quite frequent, research on its effects onthe biodiversity and density of soil seed banks is scarce. We studied the effects of livestock type (e.g., sheep or cattle) and grazing intensity on the soil seed bank of species-rich sand grasslands. Altogether 25 grazed grasslands classified into four grazing intensity categories were studied; and their soil seed bank was analysed. We tested the following hypotheses: i) Diversity and density of soil seed banks are lower in sheep-grazed sites than in cattle-grazed ones. ii) Species composition, diversity, and density of the soil seed banks are more strongly affected by grazing intensity than by the livestock type. We found that sheep grazing sustained a much lower density of total seed bank regardless to grazing intensity. Livestock type mainly affected the seed bank density, while grazing intensity had a major significant effect on most of the variables. Most of the studied variables were affected by the interaction of grazing intensity and livestock type. We emphasise that i) livestock type must be carefully selected and high-intensity sheep grazing should be avoided in the long-run, and ii) for a sustainable grazing management and to meet nature conservation goals, grazing intensity and livestock type should be considered simultaneously.

Biodiversity conservation is a rapidly advancing research area in sustainable grassland management. This chapter explores evidence-based approaches to enhance biodiversity on agricultural grasslands. The biodiversity value of these grasslands varies widely, primarily influenced by production-driven management intensity. The well-established mechanisms through which management affects grassland biodiversity are known for many taxa, particularly in European grasslands. Numerous documented pathways for maintaining and enhancing biodiversity on grasslands can be globally applied with context-specific adaptations for agricultural settings. A research-practice case demonstrates proven ecological benefits resulting from modified farm management, offering specific on-farm solutions and support to farmers. Recognizing the impact of expanding grassland-based production on biodiversity is essential. Inherent trade-offs between achieving various benefits, including biodiversity, and high yields necessitate systemic changes, such as dietary adjustments on the food system level. Integrated biodiversity research on grasslands has identified current and future research themes essential for sustainable practices.

This study synthesises research exploring how climate change-induced hydrological extremes influence the structure, species composition, and functional diversity of benthic diatom assemblages in watercourses of varying sizes (from 10 km² to approximately 10,000 km² catchment areas), across multiple temporal (1-15 years) and spatial (Pannonian and Mediterranean) scales. The focus is particularly on intermittent small streams in the Carpathian Basin, encompassing both the Great Hungarian Plain and the Transdanubian region. Rather than treating drying as a separate event, these investigations approach it as a gradual process composed of successive hydrological phases - flowing, standing, and dry - each with distinct impacts on assemblage structure and diversity. The findings contribute to a deeper understanding of how benthic diatom assemblages respond to climatic extremes, offering insight into ecosystem resilience and vulnerability under ongoing environmental change. This work is dedicated to Professor Judit Padisák - as a gesture of gratitude and a tribute to a distant yet ever-supportive mentor, whose early encouragement and continued watchful presence have been invaluable throughout this journey.

Cushion plants have been widely documented as ecosystem engineers by protecting the soil seed bank (SSB), enriching soil nutrients, and enhancing soil microorganism activity, including microbial respiration and enzymatic activity. However, the positive effect of cushion plants on the soil fertility and seed banks may vary along elevational gradients due to increasing environmental harshness, such as lower temperatures and reduced precipitation at higher altitudes. Onobrychis cornuta L. is among the most widely distributed cushions in the sub-alpine zone of mountainous areas from West and Central Asia to Caucasus and Pakistan. We assessed potential facilitative effects of this cushion plant on the SSBs, chemical and biological parameters at three elevational ranges (low: 2400-2650 m a.s.l., intermediate: 2650-2900 m a.s.l. and high: 2900-3150 m a.s.l.). Within each elevational range, twenty O. cornuta cushions were selected, and soil samples were collected at a 5 cm depth, both beneath and adjacent to each cushion, for SSB, chemical and biological analyses. Seed germination method was used for SSB evaluation. We found that, in general, the cushion plant had a positive effect on both SSB density and nutrient availability, with greater SSB density, higher substrate-induced respiration, and increased organic carbon, urease, and moisture content under cushion plants compared to surrounding areas. However, the magnitude of cushion effect on the soil organic carbon, microbial respiration and enzymatic activity increased with elevation while higher density of SSBs under the cushion was observed only at the lowest elevation (2400-2650 m a.s.l.). Our findings show that the magnitude of effect of cushion plants on SSB density and fertility parameters in subalpine areas is strongly dependent on altitude.

Bevezetés: A női szexuális distressz általában a szexuális diszfunkciókat kísérő negatív érzelmi állapot. Ugyanakkor megjelenhet a diszfunkcióktól függetlenül is, így fontos a kettő elkülönítése. Célkitűzés: Jelenleg nem létezik magyar nyelven a női szexuális distressz azonosítására szolgáló mérőeszköz, ezért célunk volt a külföldi kutatásokban már sokat használt Female Sexual Distress Scale – Desire/Arousal/Orgasm kérdőív magyar nyelvű adaptációja. Módszer: A fordítást a validálási folyamat általános szabályai szerint végeztük. A magyar nyelvű kérdőívet 152, ambuláns méhtükrözésen átesett nő töltötte ki más, szorongást vagy distresszt mérő kérdőívekkel együtt. Eredmények: A Női Szexuális Distressz Skála – Vágy/Izgalom/Orgazmus kérdőív belső konzisztenciája igen magasnak bizonyult, Cronbach-alfa: 0,95. A másik két kérdőívvel pozitív együttjárás mutatkozott: a nagyobb szexuális distressz erősebb állapotszorongással és nagyobb mértékű észlelt stresszel járt együtt. Megbeszélés: Kutatásunk révén létrejött és magyar nyelven is elérhetővé vált egy, a női szexuális distresszt mérő kérdőív. Következtetés: A kérdőív alkalmas lehet arra, hogy átlagpopuláción is felmérjük vele a szexuális distressz előfordulási gyakoriságát, illetve hogy megállapítsuk vele a pszichoterápiás indikációt, de ennek érdekében további vizsgálatok szükségesek. Orv Hetil. 2025; 166(19): 737–743.

The growing global horticultural trade has a key role in the introduction of alien plant species into new areas, partly because it also entails the unintentional dispersal of many contaminant species over large distances. However, apart from sporadic reports of such contaminant species, this phenomenon is largely understudied. In order to study this, a systematic field survey of garden centres in Hungary was carried out to assess their role in unintentionally introducing invasive alien species. Twelve garden centres were surveyed in spring, summer and autumn and all individuals of alien species recorded. In addition to the pots and containers of plants for sale, all indoor and outdoor areas, such as flowerbeds, bare and covered surfaces, cracks in the pavement, lawns and other vegetated areas were surveyed. A total of 93,788 individuals of 67 alien species were recorded, seven of which were recorded for the first time in this country. Despite their small area, the studied garden centres hosted a large percentage of the local alien flora, indicating that they strongly accumulate alien species. There were large populations of many alien species, suggesting that garden centres can act as invasion hubs. Trait differences between the alien species in the garden centres and the regional alien flora indicate that the species most successful at colonizing garden centres are both good dispersers and possess an effective resource-acquisitive strategy. Thus, populations of alien plants in garden centres may be the source of local invasions. Moreover, individuals and seeds in the containers of ornamental plants are likely to be transported to distant areas by customers. Despite the limited spatial extent of this survey, the findings indicate that the horticultural trade may act not only as a source of plant introductions, but can also potentially influence the subsequent stages of the invasion process. Thus, there is a need for further studies on the role of species contaminating horticultural stock in alien plant invasions.

Trait-based ecology considerably increased our comprehension of various fields related to ecology and evolution. As measuring traits can be time-consuming and costly, analyses regularly gather trait data from databases instead of carrying out new measurements. However, intraspecific trait variability can cause considerable differences between the trait values of different population and regions. Here we evaluated whether intraspecific trait variability causes considerable differences in trait values measured in two different regions of Europe. We tested whether regionally measured trait data from the Pannonian Ecoregion differ from trait data of the same species originating from Northwestern Europe, by comparing data from the Pannonian Database of Plant Traits (PADAPT) and the LEDA Traitbase. We evaluated six traits of the same set of species: thousand-seed mass (TSM), seed bank persistence index (SBPI), leaf area (LA), leaf dry matter content (LDMC), specific leaf area (SLA), and leaf dry mass. We found that trait data from the two databases significantly differed for TSM, SBPI, SLA, and LDMC. Our results indicate that the markedly different climate of the two regions can cause substantial intraspecific trait variation, therefore, the geographical origin of trait data matters in trait-based analyses. The findings corroborate the assumption that regionally measured trait data and building regional databases are essential for reliable regional-scale trait-based studies. We conclude that for studies analysing traits in the Pannonian Ecoregion (and possibly in Easter and Central Europe in general), it is advisable to use PADAPT instead of databases compiling data from regions with markedly different climatic conditions. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest.

The compositional coupling between aboveground vegetation and soil seed bank is critical for community stability and successional trajectories, but such relationships are highly sensitive to environmental changes. Although nitrogen (N) deposition has been reported to decouple the associations between aboveground vegetation and the soil seed bank in grasslands, it remains unclear whether and how grassland management practices, such as mowing, mediate N deposition effects. We evaluated the impacts of N input and mowing on the diversity and composition of the aboveground vegetation and soil seed bank, as well as their compositional coupling in a decadal grassland experiment. N addition increased the compositional dissimilarity between the soil seed bank and aboveground vegetation by increasing abundance gradient, but only in unmown plots. N addition did not affect the compositional dissimilarity between aboveground vegetation and the soil seed bank in mown plots. Mowing increased the graminoid abundance in the aboveground vegetation, but increased the forb abundance in the soil seed bank, and thus increased the compositional dissimilarity between aboveground vegetation and the soil seed bank by promoting balanced variation in abundance. Our results reveal the importance of context dependence in the consequences of N inputs on the compositional coupling between aboveground vegetation and the soil seed bank in grasslands. The land-use context should be fully considered when evaluating the impacts of global change drivers on grassland community dynamics and succession.

Intermittent streams are ecologically and economically significant but are among the most vulnerable ecosystems on Earth. Despite their increasing prevalence, our understanding of the ecological processes within these systems remains limited, particularly concerning microscopic organisms. Our study focuses on compositional and biodiversity changes in benthic diatom assemblages across two stream types (permanent vs. intermittent) and three hydrological phases (flowing, standing, and dry) in the Pannonian Ecoregion. We first assess the conservation value of these ecosystems using a diatom-specific Red List. Our results show clear structural differences in periphyton, with diversity changes observed only between stream types. These findings suggest that species loss has already begun in intermittent streams, but no functional loss was identified across phases. Additionally, intermittent streams host more Red List taxa, likely due to their unique habitat (phases). Our results highlight the critical need for customized water management and conservation strategies for intermittent streams in the region, especially as these ecosystems are becoming increasingly intertwined with daily life in the Pannonian Ecoregion.