Vegetation history, recent dynamics and future prospects of a Hungarian sandy forest-steppe reserve: forest-grassland relations, tree species composition and size-class distribution

Pannonian forest-steppes host a high number of endemic species and contribute to landscape-scale heterogeneity. Alterations in the proportion of forests and grasslands due to changes in land-use practice and climatic parameters can have serious nature conservation consequences. Hypotheses about forest-steppe dynamics have rarely been verified by detailed analyses, especially for the sandy forest-steppes. We integrated historical analysis, aerial photo interpretation and field investigation to determine how vegetation of a sandy forest-steppe has changed, how current dynamical processes operate and how native and exotic tree species regenerate under present conditions. The vegetation of the study area before the onset of major anthropogenic environmental transformations in the Carpathian Basin may have been a mosaic of forested and unforested patches. However, there is strong evidence that after heavy deforestation, the region was almost completely treeless between the 15th and the 19th centuries. Forest cover was able to recover by the 1800s but the lack of forested areas in the region for centuries explains why forest patches are still poor in species. Grasslands, which existed continuously, are more diverse, supporting several rare and endemic species. From 1953 till 2013, 72.45% of the area proved to be stable, but 27.55% showed clear dynamical character, changing either from forest to grassland, or vice versa. Thus, cyclic dynamics can occur in sandy forest-steppes. We found that forest patches of different size, differently exposed edges and grasslands provide different habitats for the tree species. Exotic species were present in large numbers, probably due to the small size of the reserve and the lack of a buffer zone

Exposing the human nude phenotype [4]

Peer reviewedSubmitted Versio

Typing Late Prehistoric Cows and Bulls—Osteology and Genetics of Cattle at the Eketorp Ringfort on the Öland Island in Sweden

Human management of livestock and the presence of different breeds have been discussed in archaeozoology and animal breeding. Traditionally osteometrics has been the main tool in addressing these questions. We combine osteometrics with molecular sex identifications of 104 of 340 morphometrically analysed bones in order to investigate the use of cattle at the Eketorp ringfort on the Öland island in Sweden. The fort is dated to 300–1220/50 A.D., revealing three different building phases. In order to investigate specific patterns and shifts through time in the use of cattle the genetic data is evaluated in relation to osteometric patterns and occurrence of pathologies on cattle metapodia. Males were genotyped for a Y-chromosomal SNP in UTY19 that separates the two major haplogroups, Y1 and Y2, in taurine cattle. A subset of the samples were also genotyped for one SNP involved in coat coloration (MC1R), one SNP putatively involved in resistance to cattle plague (TLR4), and one SNP in intron 5 of the IGF-1 gene that has been associated to size and reproduction

Reduced costs with bisoprolol treatment for heart failure - An economic analysis of the second Cardiac Insufficiency Bisoprolol Study (CIBIS-II)

Background Beta-blockers, used as an adjunctive to diuretics, digoxin and angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors, improve survival in chronic heart failure. We report a prospectively planned economic analysis of the cost of adjunctive beta-blocker therapy in the second Cardiac Insufficiency BIsoprolol Study (CIBIS II). Methods Resource utilization data (drug therapy, number of hospital admissions, length of hospital stay, ward type) were collected prospectively in all patients in CIBIS . These data were used to determine the additional direct costs incurred, and savings made, with bisoprolol therapy. As well as the cost of the drug, additional costs related to bisoprolol therapy were added to cover the supervision of treatment initiation and titration (four outpatient clinic/office visits). Per them (hospital bed day) costings were carried out for France, Germany and the U.K. Diagnosis related group costings were performed for France and the U.K. Our analyses took the perspective of a third party payer in France and Germany and the National Health Service in the U.K. Results Overall, fewer patients were hospitalized in the bisoprolol group, there were fewer hospital admissions perpatient hospitalized, fewer hospital admissions overall, fewer days spent in hospital and fewer days spent in the most expensive type of ward. As a consequence the cost of care in the bisoprolol group was 5-10% less in all three countries, in the per them analysis, even taking into account the cost of bisoprolol and the extra initiation/up-titration visits. The cost per patient treated in the placebo and bisoprolol groups was FF35 009 vs FF31 762 in France, DM11 563 vs DM10 784 in Germany and pound 4987 vs pound 4722 in the U.K. The diagnosis related group analysis gave similar results. Interpretation Not only did bisoprolol increase survival and reduce hospital admissions in CIBIS II, it also cut the cost of care in so doing. This `win-win' situation of positive health benefits associated with cost savings is Favourable from the point of view of both the patient and health care systems. These findings add further support for the use of beta-blockers in chronic heart failure

The reconstruction of vegetation change in Nyíres-tó mire (ne Hungary): An image-segmentation study

The study area is the peaty bed of Nyíres-tó mire which is situated in the northeastern Alföld on the Bereg Plain. For this paper we used a digital photo interpretation method with which we reconstructed the former vegetation from black and white aerial photos, and made chronosequence of vegetation maps. The image segmentation method dissolves the photo into different objects (segments) by spectral and textural parameters. The segments consist of similar pixels, representing a unique ground object. We made the segmentation with the Definiens Inc. eCognition software. The stability of the mire was calculated with GRID-files. The historical vegetation maps show, that after many arid years, the tree or shrub dominant associations increased until the eighties. Later, the sufficient precipitation and the artificial flooding stabilised the tree covering. The analysis of GRID-files shown, that 45.77% of the pixels get code 1 (stable), 44.32% get code 2 (slightly changeable) and only 9.91% get code 3 (changeable). It means that almost half of the mire’s vegetation is the same as in 1952

The reconstruction of vegetation change in the last 55 years on a mire of Bereg plain (Hungary)

The study area is the peaty bed of Navad-patak mire situated in the North-Eastern Alföld, on the Bereg plain, which is slightly investigated area. The purpose of our research was to reconstruct the recent vegetation dynamic processes of the mire from 1950 till 2005. Beside the aerial photos we used the ERDAS Imagination remote sensing program, and made digital photo interpretation. We divided the vegetation history into three parts. In the first period, the nutrient load of the mire was increased, peat decaying and foresting processes started, the open peat-moss dominated associations ( Eriophoro vaginati-Sphagnetum, Carici lasiocarpae-Sphagnetum ) were disappeared. In the second period the expansion of the forest vegetation continued, the species composition transformed, and the characteristic species of the mentioned associations ( Eriophorum vaginatum, E. angustifolium, Carex lasiocarpa, Drosera rotundifolia, Sphagnum magellanicum ) were all disappeared. The third period starts with the artificial flooding in 1994. In the beginning the peat-mosses were all extinct, floating mires appeared immediately and their quick succession started and still runs. The fourth period would be start with the appearance of peat-mosses