A Comparative Research on Municipal Voluntary Tasks of Three Hungarian and Slovenian Municipalities

The article summarizes the similarities and differences in voluntary task management of municipalities. For this purpose, we carried out empirical research in three Hungarian and three Slovenian municipalities. Our main objective was to discover which economic and social factors influence the scope of voluntary tasks in Hungary and in Slovenia. We separately analysed six sectors of municipal services, with regard to the different size of the municipalities. Likewise, we only covered the major sectors in which voluntary tasks are most likely to appear and therefore can serve as a basis for comparative analysis. The analysis gradually verified the initial hypothesis of our research that voluntary tasks management is more likely to be present in cities with larger economic powers and is remarkably profounder in municipalities of touristic importance

Soil CO2 efflux and production rates as influenced by evapotranspiration in a dry grassland

Aims Our aim was to study the effect of potential biotic drivers, including evapotranspiration (ET) and gross primary production (GPP), on the soil CO2 production and efflux on the diel time scale. Methods Eddy covariance, soil respiration and soil CO2 gradient systems were used to measure the CO2 and H2O fluxes in a dry, sandy grassland in Hungary. The contribution of CO2 production from three soil layers to plot-scale soil respiration was quantified. CO2 production and efflux residuals after subtracting the effects of the main abiotic and biotic drivers were analysed. Results Soil CO2 production showed a strong negative correlation with ET rates with a time lag of 0.5 hours in the two upper layers, whereas less strong, but still significant time-lagged and positive correlations were found between GPP and soil CO2 production. Our results suggest a rapid negative response of soil CO2 production rates to transpiration changes, and a delayed positive response to GPP. Conclusions We found evidence for a combined effect of soil temperature and transpiration that influenced the diel changes in soil CO2 production. A possible explanation for this pattern could be that a significant part of CO2 produced in the soil may be transported across soil layers via the xylem

Homoki gyep CO2-kibocsátásának vizsgálata új, nyílt rendszerű automata mérőeszközzel

Az utóbbi évtizedben zajló kutatások kimutatták, hogy a talajok CO2- kibocsátása jelentős napi és szezonális változékonyságot mutat. A manuális mérőrendszerekkel azonban ez nehezen követhető nyomon. Éppen ezért megjelent az igény a nagyobb időbeli felbontású automata mérőrendszerekre, több gyártó készítette el saját fejlesztésű műszerét. Ezeknek a rendszereknek a hátránya, hogy drágák és többnyire zárt rendszerben működnek, ahol a bonyolult kamranyitó-záró mechanika csökkentheti a működésbiztonságot. További hátrányt jelent a kamrák meglehetősen nagy mérete, ami miatt gyepállományokban nehezen alkalmazhatók. Az általunk kifejlesztett nyílt rendszerű mérőeszköz alkalmasnak bizonyult ezen problémák kiküszöbölésére: a kisméretű kamrák (d = 5 cm) könnyen elhelyezhetők a növények között, nyílt rendszerben nem szükséges kamranyitó-záró mechanikát építeni, és a rendszer olcsón kivitelezhető. A kifejlesztett 10 kamrás mérőrendszer kalibrálását laboratóriumi körülmények között végeztük el, valamint összehasonlítottuk terepi mérések segítségével egy nemzetközileg is hitelesnek számító mérőrendszerrel. A kapott eredmények szerint a kifejlesztett mérőrendszer alkalmas hosszú időtartamú automata-mérésekre, segítségével nagy mennyiségű adat nyerhető

Higher soil respiration under mowing than under grazing explained by biomass differences

Different management practices may change the rate of soil respiration, thus affecting the carbon balance of grasslands. Therefore, we investigated the effect of grazing and mowing on soil respiration along with its driving variables (soil water content, soil temperature, above and below ground biomass, vegetation indices and soil carbon) in adjacent treatments (grazed and mowed) at a semi-arid grassland in Hungary (2011-2013). The average soil respiration over three years was higher in the mown (6.03±4.07 µmol CO2 m-2 s-1) than in the grazed treatment (5.29±3.50 µmol CO2 m-2 s-1). While soil water content and soil temperature did not differ between treatments, mowing resulted in 20 % higher soil respiration than grazing, possibly due to 17% higher average above ground biomass in the mowed than in the grazed treatment. Inclusions of vegetation index VIGreen in the soil respiration model in addition to abiotic drivers improved the explained Rs variance by 16% in the mowed and by 5% in the grazed site, respectively. VIGreen alone proved to be a simple and fast indicator of soil respiration (r2=0.31 at grazed, r2=0.44 at mowed site). We conclude that soil respiration is responsive to the combined effect soil water content, soil temperature, biomass and soil carbon content as affected by the management (grazing vs. mowing) practice

Ethnobotanical, historical and histological evaluation of Helleborus L. genetic resources used in veterinary and human ethnomedicine

The use of hellebore (Helleborus) species for medical purposes has a long-standing tradition. Our work aimed at providing a historical survey of their medicinal application in Europe, and data on current ethnobotanical use of H. purpurascens Waldst. et Kit. in Transylvania (Romania), compared with earlier records of this region and other European countries. While the chemistry and pharmacology of hellebores have been researched extensively, little is known about their anatomical traits. Thus, we intended to provide a detailed histological analysis of Helleborus odorus Waldst. et Kit., H. purpurascens, and H. niger L., based on transverse sections of aerial parts and root. Our survey revealed that H. purpuras- cens is known for immunotherapy, wounds, and as antiemetic drug in ethnoveterinary medicine, but not in human therapy in the study area. Distinctive histological characters included diverse stele structure in the root; sclerenchymatous bundle caps around compound vascular bundles in the stem and the main leaf veins of H. odorus; and amphistomatic leaves in H. purpurascens. Quantitative vegetative traits also revealed significant differences among species, but they may reflect environmental influences, too. In all three species the sepal was hypostomatic with meso- morphic stomata, while the modified petal comprised a proximal nectar-producing and a distal non-secretory part. Distinctive floral traits included shape of mod- ified petal, presence of papillae and thickness of non- secretory part; as well as ornamentation of tricolpate pollen grains. Our findings suggest that the anatomy of various plant parts varies slightly with each species, including ethnomedicinally known H. purpurascens, even though the basic structure is the same within the genus

Antioxidant Capacity Determination of Hungarian-, Slovak-, and Polish-Origin Goldenrod Honeys

The goldenrod (Solidago) species are flowering plants that produce nectar and can be the sources of unifloral honeys. S. canadensis and S. gigantea are native to North America and invasive in several European countries, while S. virgaurea is native to Europe. The aim of this work was to determine and compare the antioxidant capacity of goldenrod honeys collected in three central European countries (Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia), from three locations within each country. The botanical origin of each honey sample was checked with melissopalynological analysis. Color intensity was determined using the Pfund scale. The antioxidant activity was determined with different spectrophotometric methods (DPPH, ABTS, and FRAP). The content of total polyphenols, flavonoids, and phenolic acids was quantified using spectrophotometric methods. The highest radical-scavenging activity was identified for Hungarian samples with all three antioxidant capacity assays. Medium antioxidant activity was described for Slovak samples. The DPPH and ABTS assays discriminated Polish honeys with the lowest antioxidant activity. The highest flavonoid and phenolic acid content was detected in Hungarian and Slovak honeys, while the lowest values were measured in Polish samples. Our study shows that the antioxidant capacity of unifloral goldenrod honeys can be different in various countries of origin, correlating with color intensity and polyphenol content