To secure the ecosystem services forests provide, it is important to understand how different management practices impact various components of these ecosystems. We aimed to uncover how silvicultural treatments affected the ground-dwelling spider communities during the first five years of a forest ecological experiment. In an oak-hornbeam forest stand, five treatments, belonging to clear-cutting, shelterwood and continuous cover forestry systems, were implemented using randomised complete block design.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHarmonization of timber production and forest conservation is a major challenge of modern silviculture. For the establishment of ecologically sustainable forest management, the management-related environmental drivers of multi-taxon biodiversity should be explored. Our study reveals those environmental variables related to tree species diversity and composition, stand structure, litter and soil conditions, microclimate, landscape, and land-use history that determine species richness and composition of 11 forest-dwelling organism groups.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study examined the concentrations of Al, Ca, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na, Ni, Pb, and Zn in the liver and kidney samples of golden jackals (n = 163) and red foxes (n = 64). Additionally, we studied how sex affected element concentration in both species, and in the case of golden jackals, how concentration levels were affected by age.Liver was the most important storage organ for Cu, Fe, Mn, and Zn, while kidney for Cd and Na in jackals and foxes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAs one of the most severe ecological disasters ever to take place in Europe, the 2010 red mud accident has left behind long-term environmental impact, prompting the need for monitoring of soil biodiversity. Red mud (wet storage solution) can be regarded as a complex mixture of contaminants due to its extreme alkalinity and the presence of potentially toxic trace elements. After-effect investigations on soil properties and soil microarthropods were carried out in three distinct habitat types (agricultural land, grassland, woodland) in the red mud affected area.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDespite the advanced activity of urban soil research, comparison of available trace metal contents in the soil of settlements has not yet been well investigated. First aim of research was the comparison of human impacts on urban soils in two Hungarian cities with different structure and development. To detect the sources of contamination, Szombathely and Sopron cities were separated into urban, suburban and peri-urban areas.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSeveral previous study results have already demonstrated that golden jackal and red fox may serve as biological indicators of trace elements and heavy metal concentrations in the various regions they inhabit. The aim of this study was to evaluate accumulation patterns of targeted elements (Al, Ca, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mg, Mn, Ni and Pb) in liver samples of red foxes and golden jackals collected during the same period in the southern part of Romania. The accumulation patterns of trace elements in the livers of sympatric golden jackal and red fox were practically the same.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF