Selected recent publications:

2025

Godó, L., Valkó, O., Borza, S., Ferencz, A., Kiss, R., Lukács, K., Deák, B. (2024) Effects of mound building and caching by steppe mouse (Mus spicilegus Petényi) on the vegetation in agroecosystems. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 379: 109359.  

2023

Borza, S. & Godó, L., Valkó, O., Végvári, Z., Deák B. (2023): Better safe than sorry – Understanding the attitude and habits of drivers can help mitigating animal-vehicle collisions. Journal of Environmental Management 339: 117917.

Godó, L. & Borza, S., Valkó, O., Rádai, Z., Deák, B. (2023): Owl-mediated diploendozoochorous seed dispersal increases dispersal distance and supports seedling establishment. Global Ecology and Conservation 45: e02519.

2022

2021

Borza, S., Godó, L., Csathó, A.I., Valkó, O. & Deák, B. (2021) A közúti közlekedés természetkárosító hatása a magyarországi gerincesfaunára - Szakirodalmi áttekintés. Természetvédelmi Közlemények 27, 1-17.

Sándor Borza

PhD

✉ borzas89@gmail.com 

Research interests

1) Human-wildlife conflicts: Roadkill project

In the last decades, the road network and the number of vehicles increased considerably all around the world. These effects put a serious pressure on the wildlife and the human-wildlife conflicts including animal-vehicle collisions are major problems nowadays. In our studies we aim to explore this ordinary problem in more aspects in Hungary. We evaluat the rate of roadkill causalities from the driver's point of view and we also regularly monitor designated road sections.

2) Eurasian Crane, like ecosystem engineer species in the dry grasslands

Eurasian Crane is a large iconic bird species, protected across Europe which shows an increasing population trend. No studies evaluated the effects of biopedturbation by foraging cranes in grasslands so far despite these habitats are important feeding grounds for these species group in all continents. We evaluate the effect of "crane-ploughing" on the vegetation of dry grasslands in Hortobágy National Park, which is the biggest stopover site in Europe.

3) Secondary seed dispersal by raptors

Seed dipersal is essential to maintain of the populations of plant species. Zoochory is a generally widespread type of plant dispersal in every terrestrial ecosystem and can ensure the long-distance dispersal of seeds. Stochastic events, like secondary seed dispersal by far-ranging raptors occasionally has major role in colonizing new habitats. Our aim is to assess the secondary seed dispersal by different raptor species in grassland habitats.

4) Human-vectored seed dispersal

There are billons of vehicles in traffic all over the world, which can carry propagules indirectly in smaller or larger quantities. This can affect the distribution of plant species considerably, and can be useful or harmful ecosystem service. We examine which plant species' seeds travel on offroad vehicles into and out from the protected areas of Hortobágy National Park and how this process influences plant communities.