Abstract: For the maintance of dry heathland ecosystems the implementation of adequate conservation measures is required. Besides traditional land use practices (e.g. mowing) several modern management measures (e.g. sod-cutting, choppering) were developed and applied. In the present study the carabid beetle fauna of three different managed heathland sites in a coastal heathland on the Baltic isle of Hiddensee, Germany, was analysed. Pitfall trapping yielded a total of 4,018 carabid beetles belonging to 48 species. Species and individual richness was highest in the sod-cutted site followed by choppering and mowing. Diversity was highest on the mown site, due to the most even distribution of species. Species composition differed clearly among sites indicated by RDA ordination and Jaccard´s similarity index. The application of sod-cutting and mowing present two important habitats for specialised carabid beetles: Sod-cutting creates secondary, highly dynamical habitats suitable for several dune species while mowing seemed to preserve a typical (Calluna) heathland carabid fauna. The use of different management measures could lead to a more heterogeneous heathland, create suitable habitats for several specialised carabid beetle species and therefore might enhance diversity.

Keywords: Choppering, coastal heathland, mowing, restoration ecology, sod-cutting

Abstract: The climate change is one of the most relevant challenges that agriculture is facing in Hungary and all over the World. It is very difficult to express the agriculture related effects of the climate change in numbers and figures, since the atmosphere-soil-plant system is very complex. A crop simulation model was used for exploring the prospective effects of climate change on the agro-ecological potential of Hungary. The model was linked to a detailed meteorological and soil database of Hungary to provide the required input data. Simulations first employing measured meteorological data then combining them with a climate change scenario were used to determine the present and the prospective agro-ecological potential of Hungary. The simulation results indicate that the Hungarian agriculture can not avoid the effects of climate change, and unfortunately the majority of these effects would be negative. The yields of the spring crops will prospectively decrease while higher yields might be expected for the autumn crops. The amount of N-based green house gases emitted from the soil will prospectively increase because of the changes in the annual distribution of precipitation. On the basis of the simulation results the role of the autumn crops is likely to become more significant in Hungary. Another alternative for the Hungarian agriculture is to find new crops maybe species of Mediterranean origin that could be profitably grown here.

Keywords: crop model, crop production, GHGs, nitrate leaching

Abstract: The coastal waters from an oil polluted area in Nigeria were examined for some physicochemical parameters and heavy metals. The impact of seasonal changes on water qualities was also investigated. The nutrient levels particularly during the dry season are eutrophic. The trends were such that apart from electrical conductivity, total dissolved solids and Zn where averagely 10% , 17% and none respectively exceeded the WHO guidelines for water at both seasons, other parameters exceeded the guidelines greatly. Additionally, levels obtained rendered the water unsuitable for both recreational and agricultural purposes based on USEPA guidelines. Significant correlations (p 0.01) were observed between the levels obtained between the two seasons. However, only with pH was any significant difference in the mean between the two seasons recorded. The anthropogenic input of oil in the form of spill was observed to influence greatly some water qualities. Thus, not only is the water unfit for drinking but also unsuitable for livestock and agricultural activities which are the mainstay of the inhabitants.

Keywords: Contamination, oil spill, pollution, toxicity, water quality parameter

Abstract: Phytoremediation is a group of technologies that use plants to reduce, degrade, or immobilize environmental toxins, primarily those of anthropogenic origin, with the aim to clean-up contaminated areas. In this review paper, different types of phytoremediation processes, typical plants used and their application for clean-up of metal contaminated sites were reviewed. Plant responses to heavy metals and mechanisms of metal uptake and transport were also discussed. Phytoremediation of Pb, Zn, Cu and Fe tailings and mine spoils were carried out by grasses, herbs and shrubs, which could be categorised as As accumulator (Paspalum, Eriochloa, Holcus, Pennisetum Juncus, Scirpus and Thymus), Pb accumulator (Brassica juncea, Vetiveria, Sesbania, Minuartia, Juncus, Scirpus and Thymus), Cu accumulator (Ammania baccifera, Scleranthus) Zn and Cd accumulator (Vetiveria, Sesbania, Viola, Sedum, Rumex). The research work showed that, bioavailability and metal uptake by plants could be accomplished by ameliorating pH, addition of organic amendment, fertiliser and chelating agents. Further research is required to develop fast growing high biomass plants with improved metal uptake ability, increased translocation and tolerance of metals through genetic engineering for effective phytoremediation of metal mine wastes.

Keywords: Phytoextraction, mine tailings, metal accumulator plants

Abstract: Our method is presented with displaying time series, consisting of the daily amount of precipitation of 100 years, which has meant a separate challenge, as the precipitation data shows significant deviations. By nowadays, mankind has changed its environment to such an extent that it has a significant effect on other species as well. The Lepidoptera data series of the National Plant Protection and Forestry Light Trap Network can be used to justify this. This network has a national coverage, a large number of collected Lepidoptera, and an available, long data series of several years. For obtaining information from these data, the setting up of an easy to manage database is necessary. Furthermore, it is important to represent our data and our results in an easily analysable and expressive way. In this article the setting up of the database is introduced, together with the presentation of a three dimensional visualization method, which depicts the long-range and seasonal changes together.

Keywords: biodiversity, monitoring, data mining, Lepidoptera

Abstract: The paper applies a non-linear optimization approach to evaluate biodiversity in the multipurpose modelling of forest management. An even-aged forest of pure Norway spruce was generated from large-scale inventory data of the Black Forest of southwest Germany. The effects of different management alternatives including five conversion schemes, two traditional age-class and single-treeselection systems and a “Do-nothing” strategy were simulated using the forest growth model “BWINPro- S”. Optimal allocation of management strategies to the forest area was found subject to the hard constraints of “area” and “protection” and the chance constraint “wood even flow”. A utility function representing the value of biodiversity was estimated based on the opportunity costs of different biodiversity levels. The upper and lower boundaries of the function were determined by successive optimization runs. Subsequently, the obtained monetary value of biodiversity was directly integrated into the optimization of a particular forest to identify the optimal allocation of management schemes to entire forest enterprise. Conservation or “Do-Nothing” was the most desirable scenario combined with the partial establishment of beech regeneration. Economic and silvicultural consequences of the optimal multi-purpose forest management plan were discussed and compared to the alternative business-as-usual strategies.

Keywords: Non-linear Optimization; Biodiversity; Multi-purpose Forest Management; Black Forest; Climate Change

Abstract: The paper deals with connections between solar flare activities and pheromone trap collection of harmful moth species. The authors have worked out the pheromone catch data of Spotted Tentiform Leafminer (Phyllonorycter blancardella Fabricius, 1781), Peach Twig Borer (Anarsia lineatella Zeller, 1839), European Vine Moth (Lobesia botrana Denis et Schiffermüller, 1775), Oriental Fruit Moth (Grapholita molesta Busck, 1916), and Plum Fruit Moth (Grapholita funebrana Treitschke, 1846) as were operated for the period of 1988 and 1993-2007 in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County (Hungary). The results proved that the daily catches were significantly modified by the Q-index, expressing the different lengths and intensities of the solar flares. On days with high Q-index relative to the ones of the average swarming periods, the number of catches is considerably lower.

Keywords: harmful moths, pheromone trap, Q-index, solar flares

Abstract: Cyanobacteria are algae of great importance to environmental and public health because they produce toxins, such as microcystins. The same species of cyanobacteria may show microcystinproducing and non-microcystin-producing genotypes, which are impossible to differentiate based on morphological characteristics. The presence of the mcyA gene has been used as an indirect diagnosis for the identification of microcystin-producing cyanobacteria. The aim of this work was to evaluate if the blooms of cyanobacteria in the Itaipu reservoir present a microcystin-producing genotype. To that end, the phycocyanin intergenic spacer (PC-IGS) and partial mcyA gene were amplified and sequenced. The presence of these genes was observed in all the samples, indicating the toxicological potential of the blooms of cyanobacteria in the Itaipu reservoir. The phylogenetic analyses of sequences from cyanobacteria blooms isolated from the Itaipu reservoir and sequences available in GenBank demonstrated the genetic similarity between samples from Itaipu and species from the Microcystis genus.

Keywords: Microcystin, PC-IGS, mcyA