The Institute of Ecology and Botany seeks to propose scientific solutions to the environmental challenges of our time, such as land-use change, habitat degradation, climate change, urbanisation, the effects of intensive agriculture, invasions, and the emergence of new diseases. The Institute’s nearly 80 researchers, organised in research groups, work on a wide range of organism groups and habitats, using a variety of methodological approaches. In addition to its basic research activities, the institute carries out a number of public monitoring and applied research activities.
Priority Areas
- Maintenance and restoration of the integrity of nature and society.
- Investigating the impact of silviculture on forest communities.
- Plant genetic conservation and ecological restoration in the National Botanical Garden.
- Development of conservation strategies based on seed ecology.
- Reconstruction of grassland habitats.
- Testing restoration ecology methods for the development of the national green infrastructure.
- Predicting the ecological impacts of climate change in the Carpathian Basin.
- The status biodiversity and ecosystem services in urban habitats.
- Biodiversity and protection of natural habitats embedded in agricultural landscapes.
- Ecological intensification, agroecology.
- Ecological analysis and sustainability of plant–pollinator relationships.
- Ecological analysis of biological invasion and its social and economic implications.
- Prevention of emerging diseases based on ecological principles.
- Investigation of plant community dynamics, search for community assembly rules.
- Maintaining plant databases and updating distribution maps.
- Knowledge co-production between science and other knowledge systems.
Priority publications
Erdős László; Török Péter; W. Veldman Joseph; Bátori Zoltán; Bede-Fazekas Ákos; Magnes Martin; Kröel-Dulay György; Tölgyesi Csaba. How climate, topography, soils, herbivores, and fire control forest-grassland coexistence in the Eurasian forest-steppe biome. BIOLOGICAL REVIEWS, 09 August 2022, Early View
2022
Korányi, Dávid; Egerer, Monika; Rusch, Adrien; Szabó, Borbála; Batáry, Péter. Urbanization hampers biological control of insect pests: A global meta-analysis SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT. 834: 155396-
2022
Kröel-Dulay, György; Mojzes, Andrea; Szitár, Katalin; Bahn, Michael; Batáry, Péter; Beier, Claus; Bilton, Mark; De Boeck, Hans J.; Dukes, Jeffrey S.; Estiarte, Marc; Holub, Petr; Jentsch, Anke; Schmidt, Inger Kappel; Kreyling, Juergen; Reinsch, Sabine; Larsen, Klaus Steenberg; Sternberg, Marcelo; Tielbörger, Katja; Tietema, Albert; Vicca, Sara; Peñuelas, Josep. Field experiments underestimate aboveground biomass response to drought NATURE ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION. 6: 540-545
2022
Valkó, Orsolya; Rádai, Zoltán; Deák, Balázs. Hay transfer is a nature-based and sustainable solution for restoring grassland biodiversity JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT. 311: Paper 114816-
2022
Biró, Marianna; Molnár, Zsolt; Öllerer, Kinga; Demeter, László; Bölöni, János. Behind the general pattern of forest loss and gain: A long-term assessment of semi-natural and secondary forest cover change at country level Landscape and Urban Planning, 220:104334
2022
Vári, Ágnes; Podschun, Simone A.; Erős, Tibor; Hein, Thomas; Pataki, Beáta; Iojă, Ioan-Cristian; Adamescu, Cristian Mihai; Gerhardt, Almut; Gruber, Tamás; Dedić, Anita; Ćirić, Miloš; Gavrilović, Bojan; Báldi, András. Freshwater systems and ecosystem services: Challenges and chances for cross-fertilization of disciplines AMBIO: A JOURNAL OF THE HUMAN ENVIRONMENT. 51: 135-151
2022
