The microalgae cultivation has been developed over the last decades because it is capable of producing valuable metabolites, such as n-3 fatty acids for nutraceutical purposes. Aim of this study was to investigate the effect of the micro-alga as fat supplement on fatty acid profile of goat and cow milk, with particular reference to n-3 fatty acids and rumenic acid. Twenty dairy goats and 16 dairy cows were randomly allocated to two isonitrogenous treatment groups to investigate the effect of micro-alga supplementation on the composition and fatty acid profile of milk. The 1 st goat group was fed with alfalfa hay and concentrate; the 2 nd goat group received the same forages but the concentrate was supplemented with 10 g kg -1 DM intake micro-alga. The control group cows were fed with alfalfa hay, corn silage and concentrate, while the experimental animals were fed with the same forages but the concentrate was supplemented with 7.4 g kg -1 DM intake micro-alga. The experimental periods lasted for 17 d. The micro-alga supplements considerably increased rumenic acid concentration in milk (1.20% vs. 1.54%, P < 0.001 for goats; 0.75% vs. 0.85%, P < 0.05 for cows). The n-3 fatty acids were higher in milk (1.02 vs. 1.35; P < 0.001 for goats; 0.47 vs. 0.56; P < 0.05 for cows) and in addition the n-6/n-3 ratio was also more favorable in the micro-alga supplemented groups (3.53 vs. 2.88; P < 0.01 for goats; 4.18 vs. 3.36; P < 0.05 for cows). It is concluded that the diet with micro-alga supplementation significantly increased the concentration of beneficial fatty acids in both goat and cow milk.

1Questions: (1) Which species dominate mid-successional old-fields in Hungary? How does 2 the identity of these species relate to local (patch-scale) diversity and to the progress of 3 succession? (2) Which species have the strongest negative impact on diversity in spontaneous 4 old-field succession and what generalizations are possible about the traits of these species? 5 (3) Are these species dominant or subordinate components in mature target communities? (4) 6 Do native or alien species have stronger effects on the diversity and progress of succession? 7Location: Abandoned agricultural fields (abandoned croplands, orchards and vineyards) at 8 various locations scattered throughout Hungary. 9Methods: Vegetation patterns on 112 old-fields, in 25 sites varying in soils and climatic 10 conditions, topography, landscape contexts and land use histories were sampled. Most old-11 fields had appropriate seed sources in the immediate vicinity, i.e. natural or semi-natural 12 grasslands (meadows steppes, closed and open sand steppes) as source and target habitats. 13The age of abandoned fields ranged from 1 to 69 years, but most sites were between 15 and 14 60 years. The cover of vascular plant species (in %) was estimated in 2 m x 2 m plots. 15Relationships between diversity, the progress of succession (similarity to target communities) 16 and the identity of dominants were tested. 17Results: A small portion of successional dominants (eight species) had strong negative 18 impacts on diversity. These species belonged to Poaceae, Asteraceae and Fabaceae families. 19Most of these species were wind pollinated, and capable of lateral vegetative spread. 20 Dominant species varied in size and had, on average, low requirements for nitrogen but a 21 high requirement for light. With one exception, Solidago gigantea, they were native to the 22

In the Palaearctic steppe zone, overgrazing was identified as one of the key drivers of declining grassland biodiversity, which underlines the necessity of the functional evaluation of increased grazing pressure on grassland vegetation. We tested the following hypotheses: (a) The effect of grazing intensity on species and functional diversity is strongly dependent on grassland type. (b) The magnitude of diet selectivity of grazers decreases with increasing grazing intensity. (c) Increasing grazing intensity increases evenness and functional evenness of the subjected grasslands. We analyzed vegetation patterns in four types of grasslands (Dry alkali short‐grass steppes, Dry loess steppes, Non‐alkali wet and Alkali wet grasslands) along an intensity gradient of beef cattle grazing at 73 sites in Hungary. Species richness, Shannon diversity, evenness, and four leaf traits were analyzed. We calculated community‐weighted means for each single trait, and multi‐trait functional richness, functional evenness, and divergence for all leaf traits. All species and functional diversity metrics were significantly affected by the grassland type, except leaf dry matter content. The effect of interaction between grazing intensity and grassland type was also significant for functional richness, functional evenness, community‐weighted means of leaf area, and for species richness and evenness. An upward trend of specific leaf area was detected in all grasslands with the highest scores for the overgrazed sites, but the change was also grassland type dependent. The detected trend suggests that with increased intensity the overall selectivity of grazing decreased. We found that evenness was affected but functional evenness was not affected by grazing intensity. Functional evenness scores were more related to the grassland type than to changes in grazing intensity, and displayed a high variability. We stress that one‐size‐fits‐all strategies cannot be recommended and actions should be fine‐tuned at least at the level of grassland type.

Regeneration of seminatural grasslands are often threatened by the invasion of Calamagrostis epigejos, which can slow down or arrest secondary succession. Here we report the results of a 9-year mowing experiment designed to suppress the spread of C. epigejos in mid-successional grasslands in Hungary. The experimental design consisted of 16 permanent plots of 3 6 3 m. Half of the plots were mowed twice a year (in June and September), the other half was left as control. Vegetation was sampled in 2 6 2 m quadrates before mowing in each year between 2001 and 2009. The effects of mowing were tested using repeated-measure analyses of variance (ANOVA) and Tukey HSD for post hoc tests. Significant decrease of C. epigejos appeared after 2 years of mowing. Species richness increased after 4 years, while diversity after 8 years. By this time the target native species Brachypodium pinnatum become dominant. Similar trends appeared in the control plots during spontaneous succession but at much slower rates. Our results suggest that C. epigejos disappears spontaneously in secondary grassland succession after ca. 40-50 years. However, mowing twice a year can speed up this process by opening a ''colonization window'' to the valuable target species. For successful control, mowing should be maintained for approximately 8 years.

This study investigates how yellow bluestem affects biodiversity in a typical Pannonian grassland. Beta diversity (i.e. the finescale spatial variability of species compositions), was estimated by the realized number of species combinations sampled at various scales. Sampling was performed by a standard protocol. Presences of plant species were recorded along 52.2 m long belt transect of 1044 units of 0.05x0.05 m contiguous microquadrats. According to the results the massive presence of tested C4 grass significantly reduced species richness of the grassland. Beta diversity assessment revealed that 90% of species combinations were lost due to yellow bluestem invasion. Fine-scale spatial pattern analyses showed complete local extinctions of other species from microsites dominated by yellow bluestem. This local extinction is enhanced by the specific clonal architecture of this species and by the accumulation of litter. Other dominant grasses had no effect on fine scale diversity, i.e. they could coexist well with other elements of the local flora. This study presents currently developed microhabitat types, forecasts and also draws attention to the danger that climate warming will probably enhance the spread of this detrimental C4 species.