4th Hungarian Conference on Landscape Ecology


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4th Hungarian Conference on Landscape Ecology

Kerekegyháza, Hungary, May 13–15, 2010

Although landscape ecology has long traditions in Hungary the fi rst national congress 
was held at Szirák only in 2004, Success of that meeting underlined the importance of the 
topic both for research and practice. Since 2004 the Hungarian Conferences on Landscape 
Ecology were organised in the springs of every even year. For the fourth time such an event 
was held at Varga-tanya, Kerekegyháza in the heart of the Kiskunság region and organized 
by the Geographical Research Institute, Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA FKI).

Since landscape ecology is an interdisciplinary fi eld the national conference is 
always an appropriate occasion to discuss the topics with the representatives of various 
studies. Most of the participants came from geography, but there were several experts on 
GIS, botany, pedology, climatology, and management staff  from the national parks.

Ádám Kertész, head of the organizing committ ee opened the conference. In his 
speech the emphasis was put on the role of water and water management in the landscape, 
with a special reference to the Kiskunság region. Aft er the opening ceremony the fi rst day 
was devoted for plenary lectures. Many of the presentations have dealt with the climate 
change and related problems. The keynote speakers of the plenary session tackled the 
present state of Hungarian landscape ecology, analysed the professional composition of 
researchers and outlined the possible research directions. On the second half of the fi rst 
day both literature reviews and case studies were presented.

On the second day parallel sections were held on the following topics:
Landscape forming, land use change, and the role of climate change
Riparian habitats, fl oodplains and water management
Landscape architecture, landscape planning and regional development
Landscape protection and conservation
Biodiversity in the landscape
Cultural landscape
Agricultural management and policy
Landscape ecology in earth sciences
In addition to the paper sessions two poster sections were organised to display 

the summarised results. During the conference altogether 37 oral presentations were made 
and 15 posters exhibited. A volume of abstracts of papers were issued by the conference. 
The organizing committ ee decided to request all the authors to submit their results in an 
enlarged form. The full text conference proceedings are presumed to be published by the 
autumn of 2010.

On the third day an excursion was planned to observe the most valuable natural 
landscapes of the Kiskunság. The fi eld trip was organised and guided by the staff  of the 
Kiskunság National Park. The fi rst stop was at Strázsahegy to enjoy the superb panorama 
of the landscape. The following sight was next to Fülöpháza where the participants could 
observe the one and only moving sand dune in Hungary. The lack of vegetation due to 
grazing and to hoeing is that keeps the dune drift ing. Meanwhile a heavy shower started 
accordingly the rest of the sights were viewed only from the coach. However during the 
fi rst two days of the congress there also occurred storms with extreme intensities both the 
alkaline ponds visited (Szívós-szék and Szappan-szék) were totally dried out. The last 
episode of the excursion and of the whole conference as well was the rich and delicious 
lunch at Fülöpszállás.

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To sum up the experiences of the meeting: interesting and important research 
results could be heard followed by fruitful and profi table discussions. Éva Konkoly-Gyuró 
on behalf of the Faculty of Forestry, University of West Hungary announced that the 5th 
Hungarian Conference on Landscape Ecology would be held at Sopron in 2012. Hopefully 
it will be as intriguing as the fourth was.

Gergely Jakab

Field symposium at Kiskunság National Park. Among the participants: profs Á. Kertész, 
D. Lóczy and P. Csorba. (Photo by G. Király)