Iron age burial mounds as refugia for steppe specialist plants and invertebrates – case study from the Zsolca mounds (NE Hungary)

Tóth, Csaba; Deák, Balázs; Nyilas, I.; Bertalan, László; Valkó, Orsolya; Novák, Tibor József

doi:10.2478/hacq-2019-0009

Cited by 13 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 20 publications

(31 reference statements)

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“…Due to their isolated state, the management of grassland fragments on kurgans has been ceased for decades or centuries. As they have been built using the topsoil of the neighboring areas, their soil is rich in nutrients and has a good physical structure (Tóth et al, 2019). Verges represented grassland fragments with a linear shape.…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Ancient Burial Mounds Provide Safe Havens for Grassland Specialist Plants in Transformed Landscapes—A Trait-Based Analysis

et al. 2021

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Due to the intensified land use in transformed landscapes, grassland biodiversity is often restricted to habitat fragments inadequate for arable use or for urban development. In continental parts of Eurasia, the ~600,000 ancient burial mounds (called “kurgans”) built by nomadic tribes of the steppes are amongst the most widespread landmarks providing refuge for dry grassland species. In our study by using plant functional groups and functional traits, we aimed at gaining insight into the ecological and evolutionary processes shaping the structure and the composition of assemblages of grassland specialist plant species on kurgans embedded in the agricultural landscapes of East-Hungary. As a comparison, we also studied roadside verges and pristine extensive grasslands in the same region. We found that despite their small size, due to the lack of human disturbances and high microhabitat diversity kurgans can maintain a high species richness and percentage cover of specialists, especially when compared to verges. We revealed that assemblages of specialist plants on kurgans are characterized by traits typical to terrestrial habitat islands such as self-compatibility, large seed mass and tall stature. Kurgans and extensive grasslands were characterized by higher functional diversity (both at the level of single traits and multi-trait based functional dispersion) which is probably due to the higher level of environmental heterogeneity compared to the homogeneous environment in verges.

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Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Ancient Burial Mounds Provide Safe Havens for Grassland Specialist Plants in Transformed Landscapes—A Trait-Based Analysis

et al. 2021

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“…In their case study, Tóth et al (2019) show the importance of kurgans in nature conservation. They studied the geomorphology, soil parameters, vegetation and arthropod assemblages of a twin kurgan complex called the Zsolca mounds in Northeastern Hungary.…”

Section: Contributions Of the Special Issuementioning

confidence: 99%

Conservation and diversity of Palaearctic grasslands – Editorial to the 5th EDGG special issue in Hacquetia

Valkó¹,

Labadessa²,

Palpurina

et al. 2019

Hacquetia

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Palaearctic grasslands are diverse and dynamic ecosystems that are in the focus of ecology, conservation biology and agronomy. This special issue is dedicated to the biodiversity and conservation issues of Palaearctic grasslands and was initiated by the Eurasian Dry Grassland Group members attending the 14th Eurasian Dry Grassland Conference (EDGC) at Sulmona, Italy in 2018. The papers in this special issue cover a wide range of grassland ecosystems from mountain dry grasslands to lowland loess grasslands, feathergrass steppes and wet grasslands, and focus on the biodiversity values and conservation issues of Palaearctic grasslands. We believe that this compilation will contribute to a better understanding of the ecology of grasslands and support their more effective conservation.

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“…Due to their steep slopes and social taboos associated with them, they have often remained intact from human disturbances such as ploughing, and thus may act as safe havens for grassland species across Eurasia 24 . Their unique hill shape with steep slopes results in the formation of different microhabitats (e.g., slopes with different aspects) characterised by different abiotic parameters such as soil nutrient content and soil moisture 26 , 27 . Previous studies showed that these abiotic patterns result in the formation of distinct microhabitats 17 , 28 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, despite their relatively small area, mounds are characterised by a diverse mosaic of microhabitats and a high plant diversity 17 , 25 . Despite the fauna is an integral part of dry grassland communities preserved by the mounds, most studies focused on their vegetation, and only a few researches dealt with their fauna (but see Marcolin et al 29 ; Deák et al 12 and Tóth et al 26 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Functional composition of ant assemblages in habitat islands is driven by habitat factors and landscape composition

Deák

Báthori

Lőrinczi

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

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Fragmented natural habitats within human-transformed landscapes play a key role in preserving biodiversity. Ants as keystone species are essential elements of terrestrial ecosystems; thus, it is important to understand the factors influencing their presence. In a large-scale multi-site study, we surveyed ant assemblages using sweep netting and D-vac sampling on 158 ancient burial mounds preserving grassland habitats in agricultural landscapes in East-Hungary. We asked the following questions: (1) How do habitat factors and landscape composition affect species richness and functional diversity of ants? (2) Which ant traits are affected by habitat factors and landscape composition? Despite their small sizes, mounds as permanent and relatively undisturbed landscape elements could provide safe havens for diverse ant assemblages even in transformed agricultural landscapes. The complex habitat structure of wooded mounds supported high species and functional diversity of ant assemblages. Ant species on wooded mounds had small or medium-sized colonies, enabling the co-existence of more species. The effect of landscape composition on ant assemblages was mediated by habitat factors: steep slopes buffered the negative effect of the cropland matrix and enabled higher ant diversity.

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Iron age burial mounds as refugia for steppe specialist plants and invertebrates – case study from the Zsolca mounds (NE Hungary)

Cited by 13 publications

References 20 publications

Ancient Burial Mounds Provide Safe Havens for Grassland Specialist Plants in Transformed Landscapes—A Trait-Based Analysis

Ancient Burial Mounds Provide Safe Havens for Grassland Specialist Plants in Transformed Landscapes—A Trait-Based Analysis

Conservation and diversity of Palaearctic grasslands – Editorial to the 5th EDGG special issue in Hacquetia

Functional composition of ant assemblages in habitat islands is driven by habitat factors and landscape composition

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