Grassland ecology

Grasslands are often viewed as "simple" open areas but indeed, they are extremely diverse, remarkably interesting and spectacular habitats! Grassland ecosystems are globally threatened by severe land use changes and other human activities. That is why it is crucial to study the mechanisms that shape and maintain their biodiversity and to identify the management practices that can support their biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. We use grasslands as study system in almost all of our projects, as they are diverse and dynamic habitats where recruitment by seed is a major driver of vegetation dynamics. 

For studying the small-scale relationship between environmental heterogeneity and diversity, lowland alkaline grasslands offer a great opportunity. These remarkable habitats occur on soil with high salt content and dynamically changing water regime - these factors are in line with the fine-scale microtopographical differences in the relief. Even a few centimetres difference in 'elevation' can result in a shift between plant communities. In a remote sensing study by Balázs we found that within a one-metre elevation gradient, eight different grassland communities can occur in the lowland alkaline landscapes! These inland, continental alkaline habitat complexes are similar in many terms to the coastal habitats in the seashores, which makes them even more interesting. We are now interested in the role of this fine-scale environmental heterogeneity in shaping the vegetation recovery in large-scale restoration projects.

Grasslands often require continuous extensive managment for maintaining their open structure. Extensive animal husbandry is a very important driver that shapes the species composition of grasslands. It is very important to understand the complex effects of grazing animals on grassland ecosystems and to support the extensive grazing systems! We are keen on studying the grazing systems from many aspects, e.g. the role of livestock in seed dispersal, the effect of different breeds on vegetation composition, or studying whether grazing can support the recovery of grasslands. Fire is a natural disturbance in terrestrial ecosystems that affect the vegetation dynamics in many ways. We study the prospects and limitations of prescribed burning as a conservation measure in European grasslands.

Not only livestock, but other animals play also play very important role in the vegetation dynamics and ecosystem functoning of grasslands. We are especially interested in ecosystem engineer mammals and birds that shape the resource distribution and create distinct vegetation patches in grasslands. We study the ecosystem engineering effects of burrowing mammals (e.g. Steppe marmots in Kazakhstan), foraging large birds ('crane-ploughing' in Hungary) and many other interesting engineer species.

Recent publications from our group on grassland ecology