At the OTDK on March 29-31, 2021, Flóra Sirányi and Gábor Kocsán won 1st and 2nd place in the Department of Conservation Zoology (BSc students in Nature Conservation Engineering, Szent István University), while Krisztián Szórát (BSc in Agricultural Development in Rural Development) , correspondence student at János Neumann University) took 3rd place in the Department of Landscape Ecology.
Congratulation to the young professionals!
Flóra Sirányi took 1st place with her dissertation on the bat population of the Peszér-forest.
The most important messages of his dissertation:
surveys in all typical forest habitat types for 10-15 nights in autumn and spring provided a representative picture of the bat species occurring here (daytime, hunter, migratory, wintering, breeding…) from the point of view of the survey of common (constant) species, it does not matter how long the survey lasts, but the probability of detecting rare species is – not surprisingly – significantly increased by the large time expenditure there are several species that have been positively affected by the interventions carried out on the structure of the forest there are species that can be well identified on the basis of a sonogram, therefore we can consider the Peszér-forest as a proven faunistic novelty (e.g. alpine bat) based on the giant early bat sonogram, it is the most difficult to identify / distinguish from other Nyctalus species. In any case, based on the literature, a sonogram with characteristics that can be considered as a defining stamp has been recorded, so the presence of migratory individuals can be probable, which needs to be verified by other methods in the future.
Flóra Sirányi’s thesis is available by clicking here!
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Gábor Kocsán took 2nd place with his research on the survey of woodpecker species in the Peszér-forest.
The most important messages of his dissertation: passive (non-audio-based) territory mapping methods require many (10+) traversals to realistically determine the number of woodpecker territories with a survey based on few crawls, we make a significant underestimation, but the extent of the underestimation cannot be quantified (e.g.. the method based on few crawls is not suitable for establishing population indices) in the absence of individual marking, the real stock size cannot be a realistic goal, but mapping-based territory mapping is suitable for the production of population indices, and accordingly also for monitoring population trends.
- the sound mapping-based area mapping method should be used in the beginning and middle of the breeding season (for non-migratory woodpecker species: during March-April)
- a forest rich in deadwood (a large part of the forest stands of the Peszér-forest is such) to hold more woodpeckers than in European forests, and the density of woodpecker areas in such forests can be much higher than the average in European forests
Outlook: In temperate deciduous forests, 60-70% of the species (a major part of biodiversity) are associated with different forms of deadwood – directly or indirectly. Forest stands for nature conservation purposes (nature conservation or Natura 2000 purposes) can only fulfill their purpose if there is a sufficient amount of dead wood and a variety of dead tree forms. If you are interested, you can read a summary work on the significance of the dead tree in Hungarian here: https://lifeinforests.eu/downloads/68
The work of Gábor Kocsán can be accessed by clicking here!
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Krisztián Szórát studied the effect of his chemical control against invasive tree species in the Peszér-forest, winning the TDK and finishing third in the OTDK.
The most important messages of his dissertation:
In his dissertation, Krisztián examined the effectiveness of herbicide intervention against four invasive tree species in the Peszér-forest – green maple, glandular idol tree, western whipweed, late cherry; monitored changes in the vitality of herds treated with borehole injection and bark brushing in four different areas, infected with each species, and obtained the following results:
The chemical intervention took place on 13 August 2020, after which it checked the condition of the treated herds eight times, every 3-5 days. He developed a dendrological vitality index for observation.
At the time of the eighth survey, on day 36 of treatment, on September 18, 2020, it found complete mortality for all four species, and the effectiveness of the chemical intervention reached 100%. He found that the destruction of green maple was the fastest, with the bark-brushed stock dying the fastest. On average, individuals with smaller diameters — that is, those treated for bark injury — deteriorated earlier than injected specimens. The glandular idol tree and the western whip tree produced a similar rate of decline in vitality. Late cherries, including brushed specimens, proved to be the most resistant to glyphosate.
His study demonstrated that glyphosate herbicide treatment is an effective way to selectively control invasive woody plants. In the areas cleared of invasive species in the Peszér-forest, the restructuring with natural stands can begin, and the more undisturbed development of naturally regenerating native individuals can be better ensured.