Field work in Bulgaria - Great moments of our research expedition

In the second week of May we made a field expedition for exploring the vegetation of ancient Thracian mounds of the Maritsa-valley in south Bulgaria. We will write about the kurgan project and Thracian mounds in more details soon. Until that, we give a selection about our favourite Bulgarian memories, the most interesting plant and animal species, most beautiful kurgans and of course the cultural beauties that we could visit during our stay. With these photos we would like to illustrate how wonderful is Bulgaria, and how great was our field expedition  We are very happy that we could work in this wonderful landscape and thankful for the hospitality of our Bulgarian hosts, Iva Apostolova, Desi Sopotlieva and Salza Palpurina.

 

 Our first meeting with the giant dogs in Saedinenie. (photo by András Kelemen)

 

In the Maritsa-valley nearly all grasslans have been ploughed, and the remaining few stands are threatened by overgrazing. In this landscape kurgans are the only refugia for grassland species. (photo by Balázs Deák)

Kurgans are sometimes threatened by overgrazing by livestock. However this is rather a rare case, as most of the kurgans are surrounded by arable lands, not grasslands. (photo by Balázs Deák)

Inula germanica was typical on the northern slopes of the mounds. (photo by Balázs Deák)

As in  many other parts of Eurasia, many Bulgarian mounds are threatened by shrub encroachment. Shrubs, such as Prunus spinosa, Paliurus spina-christi and Lycium barbarum are the most typical at the bottom of the mounds or on the northern slopes. (photo by Balázs Deák)

Bladder-senna (Colutea arborescens) is a typical species on the foothill kurgans near Brestovica. (photo by Balázs Deák)


The Christ's thorn (Paliurus spina-cristi) is a problematic shrub species on many kurgans. (photo by Balázs Deák)


The Arabian pea (Bituminaria bituminosa) has a very adequate Latin name. Its leaves smell like tar. (photo by Balázs Deák)


András as Thor - soil sampling with a 6kg hammer. (photo by Katalin Lukács)


This 'tell' (mound 'built by' the remnants of ancient settlements) is a characteristic landscape element near Zlatitrap. This is a really huge mound with a diameter of 120 metres. (photo by Balázs Deák)


This tiny little Papaeraceae species, Hypecoum pendulum occurred on the most open microhabitats of the kurgans, such as the top and the south slopes. (photo by Balázs Deák)


A spectacular Santalaceae species, Comandra elegans. (photo by András Kelemen)


Ranunculus illyricus preferred the northern slopes of the kurgans. (photo by Orsolya Valkó)

 Well-preserved steppe vegetation on the northern slope of a kurgan, with Agropyron elongatum and Ranunculus illyricus. (photo by Balázs Deák)

Goniolimon spp. generally occurred on the open surfaces of the southern slopes. (photo by András Kelemen)

Our favourite landscape was the foothill landscape in the famous vine-growing region of Brestovica. It was very surprising for us to see such huge kurgans in such a hilly landscape. (photo by Balázs Deák)


Great timing - this was the best season for collecting cherries and almonds near Brestovica. (photo by Orsolya Valkó)


Another spectacular kurgan, near Zlatitrap. The very steep slopes harbour a well preserved feathergrass steppe with Stipa capillata. At the background there are the peaks of the Rodope mountains. (photo by Balázs Deák)


This picture illustrates well the monumental dimensions of Thracian mounds. (photo by Katalin Lukács)


We designed a very good mimicri and shading device for our microclimate sensors. They worked very well, but the shading cover was the favourite resting place for these animals. (photo by Orsolya Valkó)


Downloading and processing the microclimate data. (photo by Balázs Deák)


When we were in hurry (as usual), Réka coped with this task during travel. (photo by Katalin Lukács)


Animal species of kurgans: bats living inside the Chetinyova-mound. (photo by Katalin Lukács)


Bee-eaters (Merops apiaster) were everywhere. They liked very much the open surfaces of the archaeological excavations on the kurgans. (photo by Balázs Deák)



Drama on the thistle: a crab spider has just caught the scare swallowtail. The other butterfly, the painted lady came after and has no idea about the drama going on... (photo by Balázs Deák)



We met very interesting Mantis species. (photo by Balázs Deák)

 Lethrus apterus occurred on many of the kurgans. (photo by András Kelemen)



Mounds at the foot of the Rodope mountains. (photo by Orsolya Valkó)



In Bulgaria, there are kurgans everywhere. Here for example in the middle of a rice field. (photo by Katalin Lukács)



We had very long field days... (photo by Réka Kiss)



Desi Sopotlieva showed us one of the last remnants of the continental salt grasslands in the region. On the upper left corner, you can see a tussock of Agropyron elongatum. (photo by Balázs Deák)



Typical species of the open salt grasslands are Camphorosma monspeliaca, Plantago coronopus and Matricaria chamomilla. (photo by Orsolya Valkó)



Camphorosma monspeliaca. (photo by Balázs Deák)



Young herders. (photo by Balázs Deák)



This is the real life :) (photo by Orsolya Valkó)



Still life in a village. (photo by Balázs Deák)



Staro Zhelezare seems an average Bulgarian village, but it is much more interesting: many of the houses are decorated with wonderful wall paintings. You can read about this interesting place here. Unfortunately we just passed by the village - even though one can spend here hours for exploring the wall paintings. (photo by Orsolya Valkó)



Wall painting in Staro Zhelezare. (photo by Orsolya Valkó)



Plovdiv is the European Capital of Culture in 2019. We think that it absolutely deserves this recognition, as it is a wonderful, lively and interesting city. (photo by Orsolya Valkó)



The Roman theatre of Plovdiv was built by Domitian in the 1st century AD. (photo by Balázs Deák)



The ancient theater of Philippopolis could host more than 5000 spectators. (photo by Réka Kiss)



This Plovidiv villa, the house of Stepan Hindliyan is one of our favourite. (photo by Balázs Deák)



The saloon of the Balabanov villa, decorated in the style typical to the wealthy houses in Istanbul. (photo by Balázs Deák)



Plovidiv is full of wonderful palaces. (photo by Balázs Deák)



Peacock motives are typical on the Plovdiv houses. (photo by Balázs Deák)



The Djumaya mosque. (photo by Balázs Deák)



Kapana - The creative district of Plovdiv. (photo by Balázs Deák)



There are many cool wall paintings in the Kapana district. (photo by Balázs Deák)



A pub in Kapana. There are tetrises on the tables. It seems to be a cool place. (photo by Balázs Deák)



In the 'Park of the Singing Fountains' there were wonderful fountains, but they were not singing. But there were many scops owls singing :) (photo by Balázs Deák)

PhD dissertations in the IAVS Bulletin, Réka Kiss

The Editors of the IAVS (International Association for Vegetation Science) have launched a new and interesting topic in the IAVS Bulletin entitled 'Recently defended theses in vegetation science'. Their aim is to introduce the research topics of young vegetation scientist all over the world who have recently defended their PhD. It is a pleasure that among others, the PhD topic of my former PhD student, Réka Kiss is introduced in the current Bulletin. You can read about Réka's research topics by clicking here and going to pages 34-35.

Still life in the Hortobágy: Never-ending monitoring of the vegetation of establishment gaps..

Réka has defended her thesis in September 2018. (you can read about her defense here)

Publications related to her thesis

Kiss, R., Deák, B., Török, P., Tóthmérész, B.., Valkó, O. (2018) Grassland seed bank and community resilience in a changing climate. Restoration Ecology, 26, S141-S150. PDF

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. PDF

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. PDF

Kiss, R. (2016) A talaj-magbank szerepe a magyarországi növényközösségek dinamikájában és helyreállításában. Kitaibelia, 21, 116-135. PDF

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. PDF

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. PDF

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. PDF

Eurasian Kurgan Database

Kurgans are iconic sacred sites of the Eurasian steppes. Besides their historical and cultural values, kurgans also have a considerable conservation importance. Kurgans act as refuges for grassland habitats and species in transformed landscapes. They act as biodiversity hotspots in the extended Central-Asian steppes, maintaining the populations of many grassland species which are typically confined to kurgans.

Filagória-kurgan

Barrelier’s bugloss (Anchusa barrelieri), Jerusalem sage (Phlomis tuberosa) and the red-flowered viper's grass (Echium russicum) are just some of the typical red listed species which are confined to the kurgans in the transformed Central-European landscapes.

The flora and fauna of the kurgans are threatened by several – predominantly anthropogenic – factors such as ploughing, building, soil excavation, presence of roads and encroachment of woody invasive species. For the latter the encroachment of the black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) and the lycium (Lycium barbatum) are typical examples. These species often encroach the kurgans of the forest steppe region, and result in a considerable decrease in grassland species.

For the effective protection of the kurgans it is of a crucial importance to have up-to-date data on their current conservation status and on the factors threatening their cultural and natural values. This information can be a good basis for setting up effective conservation plans focusing both on the conservational and the cultural values. Although in some regions there are existing databases about kurgans, generally these databases allow only a limited access to the data for conservation managers, scientists or NGOs. They often record only a small proportion of the kurgans (generally only the huge and spectacular ones are involved into the databases).

That is why we established the Eurasian Kurgan Database (http://openbiomaps.org/projects/kurgan), which aims to collect and provide basic data for setting up effective nature conservation management plans focusing on kurgan protection and also to represent the cultural values confined to the kurgans. We collect and provide basic information relevant for conservation and management, and can be collected even by non-professionals. The attributes to collect were selected considering that data providers are not necessarily professional biologists or geographers; thus only such data is collected which can be recognised or estimated without any previous professional training.

The database provides possibility to collect two types of data regarding the kurgans. The two levels differ in the complexity of the data provided. The ‘basic data form’ can be used for recording data about the name and the geographical position of the kurgans. There is a possibility to record more detailed data by the ‘complex data form’ which involves columns on the physical, biological and cultural attributes of the kurgans and on the factors threatening their existence.

In order to support the uploaders, we prepared two tutorial videos which can be seen here.

The main functions of the database:

- To provide a widely available, open access database for collecting and providing data on the kurgans of Eurasia. The locations are freely accessible without registration. Detailed data is also freely accessible, but for accessing it registration is needed (for registering, please send an email to the debalazs@gmail.com email address).

- To provide information for planning nature conservation activities.

- By providing possibility to record repeated observations the database can provide a basis for monitoring purposes (e.g. detecting the changes in the cover of woody species).

- The database also provides a public repository for cultural values (such as cultural buildings, tales, sagas) confined to the kurgans.

At the moment we have 362 data points in Eurasia. Promising start, but we have to go further. :)

Data points from Hungary

In order to draw attention on the present conservation status of the kurgans across Eurasia we aim to publish a synthesis paper using the data from the database. The planned publication aims to give a comprehensive overview on the current land cover, threatening factors present on and the cultural values associated to the kurgans of the different regions of a wide geographical range. According to the terms and conditions of the Eurasian Kurgan Database data contributors who provided at least 5% of the available data on the complex data form will be offered a co-authorship in the forthcoming publications (Further details in the „Terms and conditions” of the database). 

Please if you are interested in taking part in the data collection and publication, send an email to the debalazs@gmail.com email address. 

Citation of the Database: 

Deák B. (2019): Eurasian Kurgan Database. doi: 10.18426/10.18426/obm.3mbbectm2bmg

Many thanks to Miklós Bán and Ferenc Báthori for their lot of work during the establishment and development of the Database. Csaba Tóth, Gábor Szilágyi, Ádám Bede, Orsolya Valkó, Laura Godó, Gábor Sramkó, Gyula Szabó and Iva Apostolova provided valuable comments, suggestions and data for the Database.

EGU General Assembly

There are only a few days left until the EGU General Assembly, which is the largest European meeting for geoscientists. Even we are biologists :) we attend this interesting multidisciplinary meeting regularly. Besides the 'hardcore' geologist sessions, there are many sessions related to ecology, nature conservation, fire regimes, climate change and land use systems. That is why this meeting is always very interesting also for us, biologists.

This year we will present four topics on the conference 

Deák, B., Valkó, O., Nagy, D., Török, P., Torma, A., Lőrinczi, G., Kelemen, A., Mizser, Sz., Nagy, A., Bede, A., Csathó, A.I., Tóthmérész, B.: Biodiversity conservation in transformed landscapes – the role of historical sites in sustaining grassland habitats and species.

Miglécz, T., Donkó, Á., Drexler, D., Valkó, O., Deák, B., Török, P., Kelemen, A., Körmöczi, Zs., Tóthmérész, B.: Biodiversity and organic agriculture – Species rich cover crops in vineyards of Hungary (Tokaj wine region). 

Tóthmérész, B., Hüse, B., Szabó, Sz., Deák, B.: Ecological network of green habitat patches:Grassland vegetation in urban habitats

Valkó, O., Kelemen, A., Miglécz, T., Török, P., Deák, B., Tóth, K., Tóth, J.P., Tóthmérész, B.: Regular burning leads to degradation in species-rich semi-natural grasslands.

New monograph on the vegetation of the Tisza valley

The 12th volume of the Tiscia monograph series is now published online. The new volume is a comprehensive monograph on the vegetation of the Tisza valley, which is among the most diverse and natural landscapes in Hungary. The authors of the monograph evaluate the vegetation composition of 34 associations based on 1500 relevés. The volume was edited by László Körmöczi and Orsolya Makra, and published by the Department of Ecology, University of Szeged.

The monograph focuses on the following orders:

Duckweed covers (Lemnetalia minoris)
Bladderwort colonies (Lemno-Utricularietalia)
Large pondweed beds (Potametalia)
Small galingale swards (Nanocyperetalia)
Reed beds (Phragmitetalia)
Water dropwort - Flowering rush communities (Oenanthetalia aquaticae)
Tall herb communities (Molinietalia)
Pannonic saline meadows (Scorzonero-Juncetalia gerardii)
Willow scrubs and galleries (Salicetalia purpureae)
Mezophilous deciduous forests (Fagetalia sylvaticae)
Subcontinental submediterranean dry deciduous forests of Southeast Europe (Quercetalia roboris)
Alder swamp woods (Alnetalia glutinosae)

We contributed to the monograph with the chapter on Pannonic saline meadows.

The citation of the monograph: Körmöczi, L., Makra, O. (Eds.): Vegetation and Fauna of Tisza River Basin III. Tiscia Monograph Series 12, Szeged, 2019.

The citation of our chapter: Deák, B., Valkó, O., Tóthmérész, B. (2019): VIII. Pannonic saline meadows - Scorzonero-Juncetalia gerardii. pp. 61-90.

Early spring aspect of a Pannonic saline meadow in the Hortobágy National Park.