BSc defense: Congratulations to Teodor Purger for successfully defending his thesis at the University of Pécs! His research, titled "Effects of horizontal and vertical urban structure on bird species distribution, functional traits, and abundance in the city of Pécs," was supervised by Tamás.

Our paper with Teja, Péter, and Stefan, "The hidden multitrophic diversity of specialized grass-shoot insects – neglected by grassland management," is published in @basicapplecol.bsky.social. It emphasizes the need for unmown refuges to support persistent insect populations. doi.org/10.1016/j.ba...

PhD defense: Kitti has successfully defended her PhD at the Hungarian Agricultural University. Her dissertation, titled "Effect of Leaving Uncut Refuge Strips and Grazing Exclusions as Nature Conservation Measures on Arthropods," was completed under the supervision of Robi. Congratulations!!!

Sep 13 - 17, 2026 - Nordic Oikos 2026 nordicsocietyoikos.glueup.com/event/nordic...

#Publication: @rihomarja.bsky.social published a paper in Ardea: "Night-time movements and roosting habitat selection of Grey Partridges." They found that 45% of partridges changed roosting sites at night, likely due to disturbance. doi.org/10.5253/arde...

#Seminar: Tomáš attended the seminar Natural diversity and nature conservation in practice in Telč, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. He was invited to give a talk on how canopy opening in lowland woodlands supports spider diversity.

#Newgroupmember: We are pleased to welcome Silva Vilumets as a postdoc researcher, joining our group with her own Estonian fellowship to work on conservation biological pest control. Happy sciencing! # link to Silva Vilumets: www.emu.ee/en/contacts/...

#Newgroupmember: We are pleased to welcome Sarolta Meinhardt as an assistant researcher, joining our group to work on the social science aspects of urbanisation in the UrbanBEE project. UrbanBEE project: www.myurbanbee.com

Péter attended the vibrant and productive Annual Meeting of the British Ecological Society in Edinburgh. He presented our recent village study published in Nature Sustainability and participated in the board meeting of the Journal of Applied Ecology. www.britishecologicalsociety.org/content/bes-...

Multispecies grasslands produce more yield from lower nitrogen inputs across a climatic gradient | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Our new paper, co-authored by Riho and Péter, titled "Pesticides and habitat loss additively reduce wild bees in crop fields", is published in Nature Ecology & Evolution. The study emphasizes the need to reduce pesticide impacts and restore habitats for promoting wild bees. doi.org/10.1038/s415...

Flying changes how metabolism scales with body mass –> NEW META-ANALYSIS of insects and spiders in Ecology Letters with @vojsavagjoni.bsky.social, H. Tan, A. Hirst and D. Atkinson onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

#NewExcellenceGrant: Péter has once again been awarded the prestigious Momentum Excellence Grant from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, which originally helped establish our group seven years ago. This is crucial for our group's continued success and future achievements. mta.hu/english

Retreat: Our research group had a fantastic retreat in Eger, Hungary! We discussed our ongoing projects and other initiatives, enjoyed traditional food, a local wine tasting, and great company.

#Meeting: Kata, Vera, and Péter attended the Kick-off Meeting of the SAFER project at INRAE Bordeaux, France. The three-day event featured engaging scientific presentations and fruitful discussions about project planning. www.agroecologypartnership.eu/safer

Conference: Tamás and Péter attended the 3rd Hungarian Urban Ecology Conference at the University of Pécs. Péter delivered a plenary on hidden village biodiversity, Tamás discussed city park birds, and his MSc student, Teó, won the best speed talk prize on 3D urbanization effects on birds.

#Publication: Our new paper, with Dorota as the senior author, is published in Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment under the title "Small-scale farming benefits birds and boosts their diversity in nearby farmland and villages". doi.org/10.1016/j.ag...

Small-scale farming benefits birds and boosts their diversity in nearby farmland and villages | www.sciencedirect.co... | Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment | #ornithology 🪶

#Publication: 'Prescribed burning and vegetation heterogeneity enhance predatory arthropod diversity in temperate dry grasslands,' led by Tomáš and Robi, co-authored by Marci, is out in Fire Ecology. doi.org/10.1186/s424...

'The economic, ag., & food security repercussions of a wild pollinator collapse Prices for pollinator-dependent crops would rise globally, w' Europe seeing steepest increases. ...consumers bear the brunt. Global annual welfare losses would reach €34 billion in 2030' www.nature.com/articles/s41...

#Conference: @edinatorok.bsky.social attended the SCAPE Conference in Priego de Córdoba, Spain, presenting on cavity-nesting bees and wasps in villages, plus a SEPPI project poster on plant-pollinator monitoring methods.

#Publication: Our paper, "Native and alien plant species respond differently to landscape and local factors shaping spontaneous herbaceous vegetation in villages" led by Kata, is now published in Basic and Applied Ecology. doi.org/10.1016/j.ba...

Out today in PNAS: Mobile species' responses to surrounding land use generate trade-offs and synergies among nature's contributions to people" www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2505401122 by Sophie O'Brien et al.

Great to see the results of our massive biodiversity assessment at Berchtesgaden Natl. Park pour in! Cool insights on patterns & drivers of multidiversity! #1 Macro- and microclimate interactively shape species diversity of multiple taxa in mountain landscapes by L. Geres. doi.org/10.1002/ecog...

#Publication: Péter co-authored a meta-analysis paper, "Wealth and wildlife in cities: How economic and demographic drivers influence global urban environmental injustice" published in People and Nature. doi.org/10.1002/pan3...

Our paper, "Suburban areas provide refuge for carabids in cities with high climate seasonality and urban heat island effects: a global meta-analysis" led by Bori, is now published in Diversity and Distributions. It highlights the role of climate in urbanization effects. doi.org/10.1111/ddi....

#Conference: Tomáš attended the Fire in Central European Ecosystems conference in Děčín. He presented research on how prescribed burning and scattered common hawthorn shrubs affect environmental conditions and assemblages of spiders and ground beetles in Czech dry grasslands.

#Publication: Led by Tomáš and Robi, with Niki and Marci, our paper in Ecological Entomology, "Solar parks provide heterogeneous habitats for winter-active predatory arthropods". doi.org/10.1111/een....

#NewGroupMember: We are pleased to welcome Veronika Fabók as an assistant researcher, joining our group to work on the socio-economic aspects of agriculture. Happy sciencing! www.researchgate.net/profile/Vero...

Special Issue: Our collection "Effects of Agricultural Landscapes on Biodiversity, Ecosystem Services, and Yield" is fully published in Landscape Ecology, featuring 15 papers, organized by guest editors Péter and Kata link.springer.com/collections/...

#NewGroupMember: We are pleased to welcome Giulia De Luca as an assistant researcher. She will be joining our group to work on sustainable development in cities and villages. Happy #sciencing!

#Publication Our paper, co-authored by @edinatorok.bsky.social, Robi, and Péter, and led by Lorenzo Marini, has been published in the Journal of Applied Ecology under the title "Using total abundance as a proxy for wild bee species richness: A practical tool for non-experts." doi.org/10.1111/1365...

#Publication: The article, co-authored by @rihomarja.bsky.social and led by Elisabeth Prangel, has been published in the Global Change Biology under the title "Grassland restoration drives strong multitrophic biodiversity recovery, but climate extremes jeopardize drought-sensitive species."

#Conference: Niki and Robi participated at the 35th European Congress of Arachnology, Zadar, Croatia. They co-authored two posters on the spider diversity of solar parks and the spread of an invasive spider species.

#Conference: Dávid and Péter presented talks from the Showcase project at the IALE 2025 European Landscape Ecology Congress in Bratislava, Slovakia. Péter also co-organized a session with Costanza Geppert about agricultural multifunctionality.

#Publication: Our concept paper, "Aligning land use with sustainability: Context-sensitive pathways forward," led by Dorota, has been published in the Journal of Environmental Management. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

#Publication: Our paper, led by Maxime Eeraerts, has been published in Journal of Applied Ecology with the title: "Global synthesis of apple pollination research highlights general pollen limitation and positive contributions of wild bees compared to honeybees". doi.org/10.1111/1365...

#Publication: Our Showcase project paper, led by Susanna Hempel, a PhD student at the University of Zürich, has been published in Basic and Applied Ecology: "The impact of abandonment and intensification on the biodiversity of agriculturally marginal grasslands – a systematic review".

#New group member: We would like to welcome Lili Korsoveczky as an assistant researcher and PhD student at the Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, joining our group under the supervision of Robi. Happy sciencing! en.uni-mate.hu

#Publication: Our paper led by Marci and Torma, has been published in Insect Conservation and Diversity with the title "Spreading of recently introduced North American sand dropseed (Sporobolus cryptandrus) threatens European native dry grassland arthropods". doi.org/10.1111/icad...

#Visiting scientist: We were delighted to host Ella Hinderer from the University of Hohenheim as a visiting MSc student! Through a #COST Action, she collaborated with Péter to model the effects of crop field size on biodiversity and agronomic outcomes in Baden-Württemberg.

#Publication: With @lakatostom.bsky.social as first author, we published a book chapter titled "How gardening can work towards combatting the biodiversity crisis: a landscape perspective" (in "Crisis Gardening: A Global Perspective"). www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edi...

#Award: Dorota was awarded a scholarship for outstanding young scientists by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education for her significant achievements in biological sciences. Congratulations! www.gov.pl/web/nauka/og...

#Publication: Our paper, led by @lakatostom.bsky.social, is published in Urban Forestry & Urban Greening: "Functional trait filtering and decline in species richness in urban parks hinder ground-breeding and insectivorous birds." doi.org/10.1016/j.uf...

#Publication: ‪@rihomarja.bsky.social‬, @edinatorok.bsky.social‬, and Péter’s article has been published in the Journal of Applied Ecology: "Pollinator benefits of small-scale landscapes depend also on semi-natural habitat." doi.org/10.1111/1365...

The Society of Wildlife Art have a wonderful project at Massingham Heath rewilding project, Norfolk. Here Amie Haslam and Brin Edwards explain the project. youtu.be/hiCQiSHuaG4?...

#Workshop: Péter participated in the BES-funded Urban BioDivide project workshop at Witwatersrand University in Johannesburg, focusing on socio-economic and climate change impacts on access to urban biodiversity. August 2025. #BES www.britishecologicalsociety.org www.wits.ac.za

#Publication: Our paper led by Maxime has been published in Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment with the title "Wild bees mediate fruit quality via seed set in highbush blueberry: A quantitative synthesis." doi.org/10.1016/j.ag...

#Award: Our Science paper entitle "Joint environmental and social benefits from diversified agriculture" received the Frontiers Planet Prize, honoring research with potential to address urgent environmental challenges. doi.org/10.1126/scie... Frontiers Planet Prize: www.frontiersplanetprize.org