PhD defense, Réka Kiss

I am happy to congratulate to my former PhD student, Réka Kiss who successfully (indeed, very succesfully, with summa cum laude) defended her PhD thesis recently.

Réka has been studying the role of seed bank and seed sowing in grassland restoration. She presented the key results of two novel and interesting research topics: 1, her literature review about the links between seed bank, climate change and restoration prospects in the open landscapes in the World and 2, establishment gaps, a novel tool for the restoration of species-rich grasslands.

The most important publications related to her dissertation are as follows

Kiss, R., Deák, B., Török, P., Tóthmérész, B.., Valkó, O. (2018) Grasslands and climate change – How can soil seed bank support community resilience? Restoration Ecology, 26, S141-S150.

Kiss, R., Sonkoly, J., Török, P., Tóthmérész, B., Deák, B., Tóth, K., Lukács, K., Godó, L., Kelemen, A., Miglécz, T., Radócz, Sz., Tóth, E., Balogh, N., Valkó, O. (2018) Germination capacity of 75 herbaceous species of the Pannonian flora and implications for restoration. Acta Botanica Hungarica, 60, 357-368.

Kiss, R., Valkó, O., Tóthmérész, B., Török, P. (2016) Seed bank research in Central-European grasslands - An overview. In: Murphy, J. (ed.) Seed Banks: Types, Roles and Research, Nova Science Publishers, 1-34.

Kiss, R. (2016) The role of soil seed bank in restoration and dynamics of Hungarian plant communities – A review of Hungarian seed bank research . Kitaibelia, 21, 116-135.

Valkó, O., Deák, B., Török, P., Kirmer, A., Tishew, S., Kelemen, A., Tóth, K., Miglécz, T., Radócz, Sz., Sonkoly, J., Tóth, E., Kiss, R., Kapocsi, I., Tóthmérész, B. (2016) High-diversity sowing in establishment windows: a promising new tool for enhancing grassland biodiversity. Tuexenia, 36, 359-378.

Török, P., Kelemen, A., Valkó, O., Miglécz, T., Tóth, K., Tóth, E., Sonkoly, J., Kiss, R., Csecserits, A., Rédei, T., Deák, B., Szűcs, P., Varga, N., Tóthmérész, B. (2017) Succession in soil seed banks and its implications for restoration of calcareous sand grasslands. Restoration Ecology, 26, S134-S140.

Godó, L., Tóthmérész, B., Valkó, O., Tóth, K., Kiss, R., Radócz, Sz., Kelemen, A., Török, P., Švamberková, E., Deák, B. (2018) Ecosystem engineering by foxes is mediated by isolation in grassland fragments. Ecology and Evolution, 8, 7044-7054.

We would like to congratulate Réka with some nice and memorable photos, taken in our favorite field days. :)