Category: News

News

Magyar Anikó

Tamara Szentiványi wins AXA Fellowship

Tamara Szentiványi, a research fellow in the Evolutionary Ecology Research Group of the Centre for Ecological Research, has been awarded a two-year AXA Fellowship research grant.
Since its launch in 2008, the AXA Research Fund has supported transformative scientific research on major global risks and the dissemination of research results. The Fund supports projects in the fields of health, environment, new technologies and socio-economic issues. The AXA Research Fund’s Scientific Panel is currently supporting eight research projects in the Field of Climate Change and Health, including Dr. Tamara Szentiványi’s project on „Effects of climate change on the eco-epidemiology of zoonotic arbovirus infection in avian hosts”.
In her awarded research project, Dr. Tamara Szentiványi will analyse the current distribution and public health risk of avian arboviruses, which can spread zoonotic diseases, and improve current surveillance methods to monitor vector-borne diseases.

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zolka

Evolutionary ecology of invasive mosquitoes

We are looking to hire a Postdoctoral Researcher for 24 months to work on a nationally funded (NRDI) project on the ecological causes and consequences of the spread of invasive mosquitoes in Hungary.

BACKGROUND:
Climate change combined with a significant increase in international trade and tourism constitute the main causes behind the emergence and spread of invasive species in Europe, which raise several ecological, epidemiological and economic problems. Along this process, three invasive mosquito species (Aedes albopictus, Ae. japonicus and Ae. koreicus) with a high potential to transmit pathogens that threaten human and animal health have been detected in the last decade in Hungary.

OUR WORK:
Our group uses a surveillance protocol that includes both field sampling (organized trapping of adult mosquitoes) and a citizen science (www.mosquitosurveillance.hu). Based on these activities during the last four years, we were able to describe within-season changes in abundance and patterns of spatial distribution of the three invasive mosquito species in the country. We have also started a PCR-based laboratory work to identify the pathogens that these species carry, to determine the genetic origin of the populations and also to assess blood meal composition.

Currently, our primary interest is to discover the environmental drivers that shape the temporal and spatial dynamics of the target species. Along this line, we combine our rich dataset on mosquito abundance and distribution with several ecological predictors (e.g., climate, habitat characteristics, level of urbanization). We plan to describe the ecological profile of different species by machine learning approach that will help us predict distribution patterns in the future. To understand the effect of the presence of new species in the endemic fauna, we will describe the ecological relationships that the invasive species establish locally (e.g. roles in pathogen transmission and pollination, competition with endemic mosquitoes, potentials as food resource)

JOB DESCRIPTIONS:
We are looking for an applicant with a solid background in ecology and evolutionary biology, who demonstrates theoretical interest in invasion biology. Ideally, we expect the candidate to work on her/his own (but with the ability to communicate effectively as a member of a team), and could bring novel concepts/expertise within the research project. As a formal qualification, the candidate must hold a PhD degree (or equivalent), and a considerable publication record. We hope to attract applicants who have experience in i) data mining and handling big data; and/or ii) sophisticated statistical analyses (bioinformatics, machine learning, GIS, networks, phylogenetic models); and/or iii) programming; and/or iv) building prediction models.

The postdoc will be based at the CER, Hungary’s largest ecology and evolution institute, with more than 200 researchers and with diverse array of research topics. The research program is incorporated into a larger National Laboratory platform that establishes strong collaborations with sixteen different research institutes along the One Health concept. The postdoc will interact with members of the other research groups and institutes, but we offer high flexibility with regard to the working routine.

To apply: email a cover letter and CV to garamszegi.laszlo@ecolres.hu (All applications irrespective of age, gender, disability, race, religion or ethnic background are welcome).

László Zsolt Garamszegi

Related link(s):

szunyogmonitor.hu

News

Katalin Mázsa

Appointment of Deputy Director

On the recommendation of the Director of the Institute of Aquatic Ecology, the Director-General of the Centre for Ecological Research appointed Péter Dobosy as Deputy Director of the Institute of Aquatic Ecology from 1 November 2022. His areas of expertise include the chemical analysis of sediment and water in river, lake, wastewater and drinking water, and the study of the effects of trace element-enriched irrigation water on plant cultivation through soil-plant interactions.

News

Katalin Mázsa

International Meeting for PhD students in Botany organized by the CER IEB researchers

Between 22-25 September 2022, the researchers of the Centre for Ecological Research Institute of Ecology and Botany (CER IEB), and members of the Hungarian Ecological Society (HES) organized an International Meeting for PhD students in vegetation ecology in Poroszló, Hungary. This meeting was first initiated by Milan Chytrý and Zoltán Botta-Dukát about twenty years ago, and it has been a very nice tradition since then. Every second year, PhD students in botany meet somewhere in Central Europe and they share their research plans and results, and they can get advice from each other and from senior scientists in a friendly atmosphere.

After a break of few years due to the pandemic, finally this nice event could be organized in person. We were very happy that this year, researchers from the IEB CER – Zoltán Botta-Dukát, Balázs Deák, and Orsolya Valkó – had the possibility to organize this event.

There was a huge interest as there were almost 70 participants, from 16 countries. The scientific program was very intensive, but also very interesting; the PhD students gave very impressive and high-quality presentations, followed by fruitful discussions. The venue of the conference was in Poroszló, in the Tisza-Lake Ecocentrum, which is a wonderful place for such an event. During the coffee breaks, we could visit the nice indoor and outdoor exhibitions and aquariums, which was a nice and refreshing activity. After dinner, there were two very interesting topical discussions about ‘How can we translate the scientific results into practice?’ and whether ‘Quality or quantity counts more in science?’, followed by a lively social program. On Sunday, Balázs Deák led a half-day long excursion, where we showed the participants the natural beauties of the Hortobágy National Park, the alkaline grasslands and wetlands, loess grasslands, and kurgans.

The event was co-organized by Centre for Ecological Research Institute of Ecology and Botany and the Hungarian Ecological Society and supported by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences; we are grateful for its support. We are thankful to all the participants for their enthusiasm and active participation in all the events. We are thankful for all the colleagues from IEB who helped us in the organization, especially József Nagy, Attila Lengyel, and Miklós Kertész. We are thankful to the Hortobágy National Park Directorate for supporting the field trip.

Organizers: Zoltán Botta-Dukát, Orsolya Valkó and Balázs Deák

News

Katalin Mázsa

New ’Forefront’ project at the Centre of Ecological Research

The research project of Orsolya Valkó (CER, IEB, ‘Lendület’ Seed Ecology Research Group) was one of the ten funded Forefront projects by the National Research, Development and Innovation Office in 2022. The research funding will enable the applicants to carry out a world-class research project in Hungary over the next five years, and support the participation in the European Research Council (ERC) research funding programmes. The current project is the third Forefront project at the CER, after the projects of Eörs Szathmáry and Péter Batáry.

The title of the project is ‘Grassland restoration based on nature-based solutions in agricultural landscapes: drivers at micro- and macro-scales’. The topic of the project align well to the current global and European policies, that have ambitious plans for supporting habitat restoration in agricultural landscapes. The Frontline project aims to provide a comprehensive framework for utilizing nature-based solutions in the restoration of semi-natural grasslands and in creating multifunctional agricultural landscapes. The ambition is a multi-scale and multi-site research program that by answering theoretical ecological questions provides evidence-based solutions for strategic restoration planning and for fine-tuning the agri-environmental schemes. The novelty of the work is that the researchers will combine approaches of large-scale multi-site vegetation surveys with landscape ecology, seed ecology and historical ecology. First, they use a multi-site chronosequence approach and study the spontaneous and assisted grassland recovery in agricultural landscapes. They sample the vegetation in 300 recovering sites and evaluate diversity and species composition patterns as a function of small-scale environmental heterogeneity, landscape context and recovery time. In Second, they analyze the temporal (seed bank) and spatial (seed rain) components of seed dispersal and test the effect of the local and landscape factors on the availability of seed sources. Finally, they study whether seeds from the seed sources can achieve successful establishment in the aboveground vegetation and test the importance of plant functional traits, landscape- and environmental filters in the establishment process from the seed sources in the recovery process. They aim to develop and test seed-based restoration methods for overcoming establishment limitation. The research will identify optimal settings of local and landscape factors where recovery is the most promising and support restoration prioritization by determining where we can rely on spontaneous recovery processes and where we need active restoration measures.

News

Katalin Mázsa

Zsolt Molnár elected member of Academia Europaea

Zsolt Molnár, DSc, ethno-ecologist, scientific advisor of the Centre for Ecological Research and head of the Traditional Ecological Knowledge research group, has been elected a member of Academia Europaea.
The Academia Europaea is a non-governmental association acting as an Academy. Its mission is to promote excellence in the humanities, law, economics, social and political sciences, mathematics, medicine and natural sciences and technology. Founded in 1988, it currently has 4,500 members, including 72 Nobel laureates.

Source: Academia Europaea membership

News

Katalin Mázsa

A research group led by fellows from the Centre for Ecological Research summarized spatial priorities for freshwater biodiversity in Europe

A research group led by fellows from the Centre for Ecological Research created a comprehensive analysis on the freshwater biodiversity of Europe. They prioritised water catchments based on the conservation value of the species living there. They found that most of the catchments with high conservation priority are located in the Mediterranean Peninsulas but Hungary is also in the top. The study was published in the journal PLOS ONE.

Although freshwaters cover only one percent of the Earth’s surface they host ten percent of the known species. Freshwater ecosystems provide many ecosystem services such as food production, carbon sequestration or water purification. At the same time, freshwater biodiversity declines much faster than terrestrial and marine biodiversity due to habitat destruction, hydromorphological alteration, hydropower construction, pollution or climate change. These processes are further aggravated with the phenomenon that freshwaters are less involved in protected area designation.

For the more efficient protection of freshwater biodiversity, an international research group led by fellows from the Centre for Ecological Research created a comprehensive analysis ranking water catchments by their priority level. They also investigated priority values in the light of spatial protectedness. They used 18816 freshwater catchments as planning units in the analysis and summed the number of species living in them based on the database of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). There were 512 fish, 656 mollusc, 124 dragonfly and 339 plant, namely a total of 1631 species used in the study. The species were ranked differently based on their IUCN Red List Status and range-restrictedness.

The researchers used methods from the area of systematic conservation planning (SCP). The reason for SCP is to give a scientifically sound basis for the designation of protected areas. One important part of this process is spatial conservation prioritisation where planning units, such as standard sized cells or water catchments are prioritised based on their conservation or other socio-economic importance. In the dawn of nature conservation most of the protected areas were created in scenic, but otherwise hardly cultivatable places such as the World’s first national park, the Yellowstone, or Hungary’s first national park, Hortobágy. In recent times the focus shifted towards the conservation value of species and ecosystems and it is possible to prioritise a large set of planning units with algorythms. One such example is Marxan which was developed to help the rezoning the Great Barrier Reef National Park in Australia. This method is also useful in the validation of existing protected areas.

In this analysis the researchers also used Marxan to prioritise catchments in Europe. They revealed that higher priority values are occuring in the Mediterranean Peninsulas and as well as along major rivers, such as the Danube, while values are decreasing towards north. They also investigated priorities with the involvement of catchment connectivity. In river conservation it is important to give emphasis on connectivity as different influences and threats can react elsewhere from its source due to the connectedness of river sections. They found that although it is important to involve river connectivity it may follows a decreased attention towards lakes and lake species when there is a limited possibility for conservation. When they analysed the relation between areal protection and priorities they found that correspondence is good in Western and Northern Europe mostly due to the Natura 2000 network in the European Union. In contrast, protection level is low in the Non-EU states in the Balkan Peninsula and large parts in the Ukraine and Russia.

Fig 1: Conservation priority of catchments in Europe without connectivity (A) and with connectivity (B). Catchments with orange are more valuable while with grey are less valuable.

Fig 2: Average conservation priority of European countries.

Fig 3: Correspondence between the priority of catchments and their protectedness without connectivity (A) and with connectivity (B).

Photo: A river with high priority values but low protection, Shala in Albania (photo: Márton Szabolcs).

News

Katalin Mázsa

The role of microbial cooperation in the development of higher level organisation

István Zachar and Gergely Boza, researchers of the Institute of Evolution, ELKH Centre for Ecological Research (ÖK) investigated the role of cooperative interactions among microbial cells in the development of higher levels of organisation. They identified the selection forces that facilitate or inhibit microbial community formation, reproduction and the possible emergence of higher levels of selection and evolution. The study of their results has been published in the prestigious international journal Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution.

Microbial communities consist of unicellular organisms, often of species from different domains eukaryotes, bacteria or archaea. Examples are biofilms, the common lifeform of prokaryotes, that form on any surface, on rocks in riverbeds, on the roots of plants, on the skin of animals and humans, or on the inner surface of the digestive system. These communities are usually highly diverse but interactions are mostly limited to the immediate neighbourhood of cells.

One of the most common interactions among microbes and in microbial communities is metabolite-mediated cooperation, whereby cells leak various products into their environment, which can diffuse over small distances. These molecules may serve as food for others or antibiotics, enzymes or signal molecules, that may mediate higher-order interactions between cells, ultimately facilitating or inhibiting the partner’s reproduction.

Metabolic interactions based on mutual assistance and cooperation – such as syntrophy, or cross-feeding – are widespread among microbes and are crucial for the formation, functioning and maintenance of these communities, probably also responsible for the unculturabiolity of many prokaryotes. However, products are usually costly to produce and can easily be diluted or are subject to exploitation by free-riders.

The most effective form of metabolic cooperation between different species is symbiosis, in particular endosymbiosis, where one cell physically relocates into the other. While this is an obvious way of stabilising the mutually beneficial relationships so common among microbes, only one such (presumed) case is known so far. Mitochondria, a crucal eukaryotic acquisition, have evolved to cellular organelles via endosymbiosis, when a bacterium moved into an archaeal host, about 2 billion years ago. Some theories suggest that this highly successful relationship emerged from an already existing mutually beneficial metabolic syntrophy between partners. However, no syntrophic relationship approximating endosymbiosis is known at all among any two modern prokaryotes (unicells lacking a nucleus). The emergence of eukaryotes from prokaryotic ancestors was a major evolutionary transition, during which cells lost their autonomy and created a new evolutionary unit responsible for the macroscopic living world around us. Although syntrophy is extremely widespread in the prokaryotic world, we know of no demonstrable case leading to a major transition, syntrophic, endosymbiotic or other. Why is it that prokaryotes are seemingly not able to “level up”? Why do we not see more major transitions in the prokaryotic domain? Why do we not see a transiton in individuality in microbial biofilms, as it has happened multiple times independently in case of eukaryotic multicellularity?

In their studies, the researchers of ÖK have categorised selection forces according to which ones facilitate and which ones hinder the establishment, reproduction and possible higher organisation of microbial communities. They have taken into account the community characteristics: species composition, coupled metabolism, metabolic functions, community building and interaction patterns. Some of these can be stably maintained in by certain microbial communities, and may also reappear when new communities are formed. If communities can also transmit minor changes, it is capable of informational inheritanceing. If bacterial colonies have such an adaptive property, it may be stably maintained in the population, for example in new colonies that bud off from the parent colony. If this trait provides a selective advantage to the colony, it should be maintained through higher level, e.g. group selection. This would be the first step towards a prokaryotic major transition. However, due to the high variability of bacterial communities (and their composition), the chances of this happening are low, and we do not yet see convincing examples.

An alternative solution, the researchers suggest, is for the loose interaction network to lead to tight pairwise symbiosis through higher levels of selection. A textbook example of this is endosymbiosis, the engulfment of a cell by another cell, which is common in eukaryotes but unknown in the prokaryotic world except for the origin of the mitochondrion. Prokaryotes seem to have been given the opportunity to move to a higher level of organisation only once. It is this fruitful relationship that has led us to read these lines.

Publication:
Zachar, I. and Boza, G. (2022). The Evolution of Microbial Facilitation: Sociogenesis, Symbiogenesis, and Transition in Individuality. Front. Ecol. Evol. 10:798045. doi: 10.3389/fevo.2022.798045

Source: elkh.org

News

Katalin Mázsa

The Ecology of Spider Sociality: A Spatial Model

Zsóka Vásárhelyi and István Scheuring, researchers at the Institute of Evolution, Centre for Ecological Research, and Leticia Avilés, a researcher at the University of British Columbia, studied the geographical distribution of spiders with varying levels of sociality by modelling the Eastern slopes of the Andes in a computer simulation. They have shown that the ecological characteristics of a given habitat fundamentally determine whether social or subsocial species live in that habitat. The study presenting the results was published in the journal American Naturalist.

Spiders are typically known as solitary and aggressive animals, yet there exists a handful of spider species in the tropics where closely related individuals live in a common web. They maintain their dense, three-dimensional web together, they subdue and consume their prey together, and they care for the offspring together. These species are called social spiders. Their study may contribute, among others, to a deeper understanding of the evolutionary and ecological background of social behaviour.

It was empirically observed that with increasing altitude and latitude social spider species are being replaced by less cooperative, subsocial species, which, although characterised by long maternal care, do not show extensive social behaviour. The question naturally arises, what factors shape these geographical species distributions.

In the corresponding literature two separate hypotheses were offered to explain this pattern. According to the Prey Size Hypothesis, a common web (and a social lifestyle) is only worth maintaining where a sufficient amount of large prey are available. Although the surface-volume ratio of the web decreases with the size of the colony, the size of the prey items, available only for cooperating collectives, can compensate for this effect.

In contrast, the Disturbance Hypothesis suggests that where the environment is strongly disturbed (by wind, rain, or predators), solitary individuals cannot reproduce stably. This is because the dense three-dimensional web, characteristic of these species, is very expensive to maintain. If the mother is unable to care for her offspring long enough, for example, because of the energy loss due to web maintenance, the offspring will die before maturing. Thus, the two hypotheses suggest that the distribution of social species is limited by the size of the prey and that of the subsocial species by the degree of disturbance.

The researchers in their latest study modelled the Eastern slopes of the Andes with a computer simulation, incorporating the respective environmental gradients (changes in the maximum size of prey animals and the degree of disturbance). They then placed several social and subsocial “virtual colonies” into this modelled habitat, and observed which species survived in which environment, with what success.

The model illustrates well that together the prey size and the level of disturbance can indeed re-generate the naturally occurring distribution patterns. The researchers have shown that high disturbance is not only responsible for destroying small colonies, but can also have a potentially stabilising effect, especially in the largest colonies. The results suggest that the ecological characteristics of a given habitat may have a significant impact on the social behaviour of the species living there.

Image: A social spider colony and some of its members (top right). The images show one of the species that inspired the study (Anelosimus eximius). The photo was taken by L. Aviles in Equador.

Source: elkh.org

News

Katalin Mázsa

Spectral sensitivity transition in the compound eyes of a twilight-swarming mayfly and its visual ecological implications

Researchers of the ELKH Centre for Ecological Research, Institute of Aquatic Ecology and the Institute of Biology of Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) studied the spectral sensitivity of mayflies during their larval and adult life stages. Using electroretinography, they showed that the visual system of the virgin mayfly (Ephoron virgo), a protected species in Hungary, adapts to changes in light conditions during development.
The study, which presents their results, was published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Larvae of the virgin mayflies hatch from the eggs around April, they feed on organic material in the river bottom and develop until the swarming period, which takes place late summer. Swarming starts after sunset during twilight. The larvae float to the surface, where they emerge. The males undergo an additional moult, and after mating, the
fertilized females fly a few kilometres upstream above the river so that the eggs become laid into the water approximately at the same place where the previous generations developed.

The swarming of the virgin mayfly is restricted to a relatively short time frame during twilight, when the environment is almost completely dark for the human eye, but the scattered light of the sun still dominates the sky. At this time the content ratio of blue and ultraviolet photons compared to longer wavelength components is the
highest in the skylight.

In their most recent study, the researchers measured the spectral sensitivity of the compound eyes of larvae and adults of the virgin mayfly with electroretinography and found significant differences between these life stages. “The larval eyes were mostly sensitive to the green spectral range, while the eyes of the adults had a sensitivity
maximum in the ultraviolet” said Ádám Egri, research fellow at the Institute of Aquatic Ecology, the first author of the study.

The virgin mayfly develops underwater, where the short wavelength light is filtered out in the turbid water. This means that the green, yellow and red wavelengths are dominating this underwater world. Thus it is advantageous for the larvae to have eyes being primarily sensitive to the green spectral range.

Using webcams images, the researchers determined that the virgin mayfly typically swarms between solar elevations of 14 and 7 degrees below the horizon, when the content ratio of ultraviolet and green photons is the
highest in the skylight. Thus, the primarily ultraviolet-sensitive eyes of adults suggests adaptation to the light conditions of the twilight.

“We have previously shown that the virgin mayfly is mostly attracted to ultraviolet and blue light, which is in accordance with our new results” said György Kriska, associate professor at ELTE, who began to study the mass swarming and the streetlight-induced mass perishment of mayflies in 2012.

The mass perishment of the virgin mayfly at illuminated areas, e.g. bridges, is a well-known phenomenon, which can be reduced by the correct choice of the spectrum of outdoor lighting. Most short-wavelength light sources, such as the bluish cold-white LEDs, attract far more mayflies than the yellowish, warm-white LEDs which emit
light primarily in the longer-wavelength spectral range.

Thus, these results support the general agreement that long-wavelength artificial light cause the least ecological damage to the environment.

Photo: Imre Potyó

Source: elkh.org

News

Katalin Mázsa

Eurasian crane (Grus grus) as ecosystem engineer in grasslands

Ecosystem engineer organisms alter the local environmental conditions and resource distribution in a way that they create and maintain habitats or microhabitats for other organisms. The engineered patches are characterised by different structure and functioning compared to the surrounding habitats. Well-known ecosystem engineers include corals that create reef habitats or beavers that literally engineer whole landscapes. Among birds, woodpeckers are well-known engineers that create nesting places for many other birds. In grasslands, the ecosystem engineering effect of birds has been largely unknown. Members of the CER IEB ‘Lendület’ Seed Ecology Research Group studied this interesting phenomenon and published their results recently in the journal Land Degradation and Development.

They studied a large, iconic bird species, the Eurasian crane (Grus grus) which is a protected species across Europe. The global crane population – thanks to the conservation efforts, wetland restoration projects and to the ability of cranes to coexist with intensive agricultural practices –shows a growing trend. Because of this population increase, it is possible that the effects of cranes on natural ecosystems will also amplify, that is why it is timely and important to evaluate the effects of this large bird on the grassland ecosystems.
Hungary is an important stopover area during the migration of cranes. During autumn, 100,000 – 160,000 birds spend a few weeks in the lowland areas of East-Hungary. Cranes are usually foraging on maize stubbles on crop residue, but regularly visit grasslands where they forage on invertebrates. In grasslands they perform a special feeding habit called ‘crane-ploughing’: they heavily disturb the soil surface with their bill and remove the vegetation. The disturbed surface resembles to a ploughed area and their size range from a few square metres to a few hectares. These are characteristic landmarks in Hungarian alkaline grasslands, but until this recently published study, their ecological function was unknown.

The researchers compared the vegetation of crane-disturbed patches and undisturbed alkaline grasslands in the Hortobágy National Park. They found that the disturbed surfaces were characterised by different structure and function compared to the undisturbed patches. The pioneer vegetation on the disturbed patches sprouted earlier than in the undisturbed grasslands, and was characterised by short-lived plant species and forbs. The crane-ploughed patches harboured more species and a different species composition compared to the undisturbed grasslands.

There were important trade-offs between the positive and negative effects of the foraging activity of cranes on different structural and functional components of the ecosystems. The abundance and species richness of insect-pollinated plants increased on the disturbed patches which suggests that these areas offer important nectar sources for pollinators in the otherwise grass-dominated habitat. The early sprouting vegetation on the disturbed patches probably provides important forage source for the livestock early in the season, but in the dry summer period the forage quality value decreases considerably.

The study showed that foraging cranes have a fundamental effect on the structure and functioning of alkaline grassland ecosystems, by creating patches with altered vegetation composition and ecosystem functioning. This impressive ecosystem engineering is the result of a few-week long foraging, and even though the disturbance is temporal, its effect may last for many years.

Valkó, O., Borza, S., Godó, L., Végvári, Z., Deák, B. (2022) Eurasian crane (Grus grus) as ecosystem engineer in grasslands ‒ conservation values, ecosystem services and disservices related to a large iconic bird species. Land Degradation and Development https://doi.org/10.1002/ldr.4314

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zolka

Science and pseudoscience, art and dilettantism – on pandemics

How does a good scientist and a good artist recognize that a new and significant value has been created in their field?
Why is it that this cannot always be immediately recognized in science and art? There is still an objective algorithm in science controlling quality: do we still believe it is objective? Are there paradigm shifts in modern science? What are the characteristic features of pseudoscience? Can we still trust in the wisdom of time that will separate art and pseudo-art, science and pseudoscience, the real and the false? What does success and popularity prove? Do critics, aesthetes, and other gatekeepers still guard any entrances? An art historian, literary critic, fine artist, and a research biologist look for answers and ask each other questions.

Brigitta Muladi, art historian
Ferenc László, literary critic
Tayler Patrick, artist
Gábor Földvári, research biologist

Concert: HIPERKARMA

Related link(s):

Tickets are available in advance

Source: Garden on the cube

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zolka

Urbanization, anthropods and biological defense – natural control of insect pests is weaker in inhabited areas

At least half of the insect species on our planet feed on plants (i.e., herbivores). Insect pests among them pose one of the greatest threats to both cultivated and naturally occurring plants. Regulating their numbers is therefore essential for both the economy and plant health. Unfortunately, pest control in most ecosystems relies primarily on the use of synthetic chemicals, which cause significant damage to the environment and human health. To mitigate these adverse effects, environmentally friendly methods are needed, especially in cities where more than half of the world’s population lives.

The biological defense mechanism is one of the most important features provided by biodiversity, with an estimated economic value of more than $ 400 billion annually worldwide. Biological control of pest insects is provided by natural enemies, helping to keep the size of their populations below a threshold where they can no longer be considered pests. Natural enemies can be predators that kill and consume their prey, such as ladybugs feeding on aphids, or so-called parasitoids whose larvae parasitize and thus kill the host, such as ichneumon wasps that lay eggs on caterpillars.

The impact of cities on this feature of the ecosystem was examined in a global study by an international research team from the Centre for Ecological Research (Hungary), the Technical University of Munich (Germany) and the National Agricultural Research Institute (France). Their results were published in the international journal Science of the Total Environment.

The researchers used a statistical method called meta-analysis, which combines the results of several scientific papers on the same issue. Fifty-two studies were conducted in different cities around the world. Compared to more natural rural areas, urban areas have been found to have higher numbers of insect pests that feed on plant sap ( that is, insects that suck plant sap with their piercing-sucking oral organs, such as aphids and shield lice) while the number of their natural enemies of arthropods with poor propagation was lower. Researchers have also shown that the level of biological regulation provided by arthropods has weakened as the rate of urbanization has increased.

Their results show that natural regulation of plant-sap-feeding pest populations is not effective enough in cities. The first author of the study, Dr. Dávid Korányi, a researcher at the Centre for Ecological Research, said: “These insects are one of the most problematic plant pests in cities, as they can severely degrade plants and produce large amounts of honeydew from plants that result in sticky sidewalks and other surfaces. The results suggest that natural enemies, in particular predators with poorer transmission capacity (such as earwigs and some beetles), may play a significant role in the effective biological defense against pest insects.

The leader of the study, Dr. Péter Batáry, a scientific advisor at the Centre for Ecological Research, said: “We can help these beneficial arthropods with more cohesive and less intensively treated, more natural green spaces in cities. For example, diverse vegetation (including trees, shrubs, and taller herbs), less mowing, preserving moorlands and dead trees provide them with hiding places and a suitable environment, contributing to their continued presence in urban areas as well.

Accordingly, this study urges the development of nature-based solutions and the reduction of artificial surfaces in cities to restore ecological communities and their functioning, thereby reducing the ecological footprint of urbanization.

Source: Science of The Total Environment

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zolka

New EASAC Report on European Regenerative Agriculture

The European Academies’ Science Advisory Council (EASAC), the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (HAS) and the Academia Europaea Budapest Knowledge Hub will present the EASAC’s latest report “Regenerative Agriculture in Europe” at a jointly organised public symposium on 6 April, in the main building of the HAS.

The concept of regenerative agriculture aims to create sustainable, resilient, healthy, equitable and climate-friendly food systems. It can be defined as a system of farming principles and practices that, while maintaining agricultural productivity, seeks to increase biodiversity, enrich soils, restore watersheds and improve ecosystem services, including increasing the carbon sequestration potential.
The European Academies’ Science Advisory Council (EASAC) prepared its report on this wide range of issues, which will published on 5 April 2022, and then presented at a public event in Budapest, on Wednesday 6 April at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and in Stockholm, on Thursday 7 April at the Royal Swedish Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

The report has been prepared by a dedicated expert working group within the EASAC Environment Steering Panel. The 26-member working group, whose members were nominated by EASAC member academies, worked on the issue for a year. Hungarian experts are regularly nominated to EASAC expert working groups by HAS as an EASAC member academy. In this way a Hungarian researcher, Orsolya Valkó (Centre for Ecological Research), was nominated to the working group on regenerative agriculture. Orsolya Valkó participated as co-chair of the working group, the other co-chair being Lars Walloe, Chair of the EASAC Environmental Steering Panel.

The public session, chaired by Széchenyi Prize winner HAS member Gábor Stépán, will be opened on behalf of the HAS by Ervin Balázs, Chairman of the Department of Agricultural Sciences, followed by a series of speeches by academics and researchers – Lars Walloe, Orsolya Valkó, Thomas Elmquist, Anders Wijkman, Diána Ürge-Vorsatz – who will not only present the report in a narrow sense, but also shed light on the policy implications and the wider links with climate policies. The academic event will be available live on the HAS’s YouTube channel.

Source: MTA

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zolka

Inspiration and intuition in the light of music and evolution

30 April 2022 – Scholarly discussion, garden picnic and jazz concert during tulip blossom.
Is there a cultural evolution, namely are there similar processes operating behind the changes in fashions and habits as those that drive the living world?
Can inspiration be created by a machine or is it exclusively human?
What are the physical, biological and cultural influences that determine the concept of “musical beauty”?

Company on the cube

Evolutionary biologist András Szilágyi, music historian Ádám Bősze and journalist András Stumpf explore in their conversation the above questions: to some they know the answers already, some they suspect, and for some they can offer the thrill of asking the question.

Concert Binder Trio

Károly Binder, pianist, composer and head of department at the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music
Tamás Hidász, drummer with a master’s degree, prize-winner of international jazz competitions
Tibor Fonay jazz bassist – Junior Príma award-winning musician, permanent member of several well-known Hungarian ensembles

Source: Kert a köbön

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Drought is one of the greatest ecological threats of the coming decades

In a recent study published in the prestigious journal Nature Ecology & Evolution, researchers from the ELKH Centre for Ecological Research (CER) compared the results of field experiments on the consequences of droughts with data from actual drought observations in a global synthesis. The researchers found that although the experiments themselves predicted serious consequences, the data from observations far outweighed them.

The consequences of rapid climate change are relatively slow to emerge on a human scale, and the effects can often be masked by other processes, making it difficult to assess the ecological impacts of climate change. Researchers most often take one of two approaches: they observe natural phenomena and try to link changes in biota to changes in climate, for example, or they carry out field experiments to try to reproduce a particular component of climate change.

Both methods have their advantages and limitations. Experiments can be used to artificially accelerate the process of climate change, so that we do not have to wait 50-100 years to see the effects, as opposed to observing them continuously. An additional advantage of the experiments is that the effects of different elements of the climate can be investigated simultaneously under several scenarios and in isolation. The advantage of observations is that they show real changes, but we cannot be sure that the observed changes are caused by the changing climate.

In the current study, the CER researchers investigated the reliability of field experiments simulating the effects of drought, a method that has recently become more widespread, as one of the greatest threats to human life and wildlife in the coming decades will be the increasing frequency of droughts. They conclude that the experiments significantly underestimate the effects of droughts and may show a more positive vision of the future. This is probably due to the small size of the field experiments and the fact that the experiments only simulate a lack of precipitation, whereas in real droughts the weather is warmer, sunnier and drier. The researchers argue that the impact of natural droughts is a better indicator of the likely consequences of future droughts.

“The agricultural and ecological importance of drought is very high. If there is not enough rainfall in summer, yields are lower and the natural vegetation’s ability to store carbon is reduced. Total precipitation in Hungary is not expected to decrease, but summers will be drier and precipitation will be more unevenly distributed throughout the year. In other words, the same amount of precipitation will be seen in the form of less, but more intense rainfall,” said György Kröel-Dulay, head of the Experimental Vegetation Ecology Research Group at the CER Institute of Ecology and Botany, first author of the study. He added: “Southern Europe will become drier and northern Europe wetter. Since Hungary is on the border between the two regions, there is more uncertainty about the future of the climate here.”

“As we emphasise in our study, there is no suggestion that field experiments are bad overall and not worth looking at. I am also an experimental person, and I know that this method has many advantages,” said György Kröel-Dulay. “At the same time, it is very important to approach any problem using multiple methods in parallel and to evaluate the results of these methods together, rather than narrowing down our research to one approach that we think is better. Although the experiments show the same trends as the observations – for example, that already drier areas are more vulnerable to drought – it is clear that the experiments tend to underestimate the ecological consequences of the expected drought. However, to predict and manage change effectively, we need accurate data,” he noted.

Related link(s):

Nature.com

Source: ELKH

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Bayes and Darwin: How replicator populations perform Bayesian calculations

Statistical inference is an essential component of both animal behavior and artificial intelligence algorithms. It focuses on two main tasks: combining information learned from the past and perceiving the present to try to predict the future (our teammate passes the ball to us, how to move to catch it, knowing our teammate and seeing the arc of the ball) while trying to make use of various past experiences for this prediction.

A new study by IE researchers shows that the population of the basic units of evolution, the self-reproducing replicators, are capable of performing exactly these calculations. The basis of this analogy is to view the competition of replicators as a competition for hypotheses about the future.

Bayesian learning theory and evolutionary theory both formalize adaptive competitive dynamics in a multidimensional, changing, and noisy environment. In this study, we discuss structural and dynamic analogies and their limitations, both at the computational and algorithmic-mechanical levels. We point out the mathematical equivalences between their basic dynamic equations, generalizing the isomorphism between Bayesian inference and replicator dynamics. We discuss how these mechanisms provide analogous responses to the challenge of adapting to a stochastically changing environment across multiple time scales. We shed light on the algorithmic equivalence between sampling approximation, particle filters, and the Wright-Fisher model of population genetics. These equivalences suggest that the frequency distribution of types in replicator populations optimally encodes the regularities of the stochastic environment to predict future environments, without reference to known mechanisms of multilevel selection and evolution. A unified approach to the theories of learning and evolution comes to the fore.

This theoretical link may lead to a better understanding of the diverse adaptations of biological evolution by showing a new adaptation goal emerging at the level of the population and not the individual. On the other hand, using this exact mathematical analogy, artificial evolutionary systems can become a more fundamental building block of intelligence.

Dániel Czégel, Giaffar Hamza, Josh Tenenbaum and Eörs Szathmáry
Bioessays. 2022 Feb 25: e2100255

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Where could the successor of the coronavirus come from – and how should we prepear for it?

What can we do to avoid an unexpected close acquaintance with another rapidly spreading newcomer after the coronavirus? Biologists Gábor Kemenesi and Gábor Földvári also answered these questions in their science lecture, the recording of which is published on the MTA YouTube channel (the link is available in the article on mta.hu).

To talk about an age of epidemics is no longer an exaggeration. The current coronavirus epidemic was predicted by science, but the list of viruses signed up to be the cause of the next epidemic is not over yet. In the lecture, Gábor Kemenesi talks about the basic knowledge related to the research of emerging infectious diseases. We can also get an idea of what may be the possible causes of future epidemics and where we can expect their emergence.

The shrinking of natural habitats and climate change create ecological situations that help many pathogens settle in new places and in new hosts, thus stimulating the emergence of epidemics in humans and domestic animals. Since we cannot stop or reverse the phenomenon, it is vital that we do everything we can to prevent it, prepare for its major effects, and develop a defence strategy. The currently prevalent post-event decision-making, medical or technological solutions (restrictive measures, vaccine, treatment) are not sufficient, as complex networks of evolutionary, ecological and epidemiological phenomena are in the background. Gábor Földvári’s presentation shows the connections between these and presents practical preventive solutions that would make it possible to curb epidemics such as the current one – before they break out.

About:

Gábor Földvári , a biologist, received his PhD for his results in the epidemiological and ecological studies of ticks and the pathogens they spread. He specializes in parasitology, epidemiology and pathogen ecology. Recently, his research interest has focused on how human activity and climate change affect the emergence of pathogens in new locations and new hosts.

Gábor Kemenesi is a biologist, virologist and lecturer as a university assistant professor. One of the Hungarian experts on emerging infectious diseases, he obtained his doctorate in bat virology. He also researches other aspects of emerging infectious diseases, such as viruses transmitted by mosquitoes or rodents. He conducts pioneering research on the subject on many continents.

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Biodiversity and Climate Protection Panel at the Budapest Climate Summit

The Budapest Climate Summit was held for the second time on October 7-8, 2021, where Gábor Földvári, the head of the Emerging Pathogen Ecology Research Group of the CER Institute of Evolution, participated as a speaker at the Biodiversity and Climate Protection panel. In the panel discussion, experts in the field discussed resolving the intertwined crises of climate change and biodiversity loss.

The Budapest Climate Summit is a unique and exclusive forum where the leaders of key companies in Hungary and the surrounding region, senior government and EU officials, top managers of financial and consulting companies, developers of innovative technological solutions and renowned researchers discuss local and international aspects of sustainable development in the light of the 2050 climate targets. The conference was attended by 180 people in person, representing more than 80 companies and institutions from 25 countries around the world, followed by hundreds of viewers online.

Source: Budapest Climate Summit

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Opening lecture: The Beautiful, the Bad and the Sustainable – What should and could the new world be like?

Eörs Szathmáry, member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, chairman of the Sustainable Development Committee of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, gave the opening speech at the 2021 Hungarian Science Festival, entitled ˇThe beautiful, the bad and the sustainable – What should and could the world be like?”. The lecture is available on the MTA YouTube channel.

Throughout the history of mankind, many civilizations have collapsed, often through their own fault. And the collapse of today’s globalized civilization could be global. It is not so much the mere survival of humanity but the collapse of technological civilization that would have catastrophic consequences for our quality of life – we must do everything we can to avoid this.

In his presentation, Eörs Szathmáry lists the threats to our civilization, the impending climate catastrophe, the increasingly unsustainable economic and social processes, the unprecedented destruction of nature, pandemics that are unfolding and the biggest obstacle to a solution.
the growth dilemma.

After exploring the reasons, the lecture seeks answers to the decision-making situations in which public thinking could be steered towards a form of global cooperation that would help divert our civilization from the path to collapse to a sustainable world.

Source: MTA Youtube channel

About:

Eörs Szathmáry is an evolutionary biologist, a member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and the chairman of the Sustainable Development Committee of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. In his research, he studied and modeled many evolutionary processes from the origin of life to the development of human language skills. His book, The Great Steps of Evolution, co-authored with John Maynard Smith, is considered a cornerstone of modern evolutionary biology.