People

Anna Mária Csergő, Associate Professor

I lead an international team of students interested in plant populations. I have joined the Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences in 2018. Previously I was a postdoctoral researcher in Trinity College Dublin, Ireland and The University of Queensland, Australia, and I held research associate position at the University of British Columbia, Canada. Earlier in my career I was assistant professor at Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania and research assistant at the University of Babeș-Bolyai in Romania.

E_mail: Csergo.Anna.Maria(at)uni-mate.hu

Personal website: https://annamariacsergo.weebly.com/

Hilda Meso Odongo, PhD Student

My area of interest is drought as an aspect of climate change, specifically the effect of drought on the demographic pathways of plants. My research topic is focused on investigating the effect of drought on Plantago lanceolata populations worldwide and its adaptation to local conditions. This will be achieved through a reciprocal transplant experiment, measurement of changes in traits due to exposure to drought conditions and development of demographic models that will deduce which traits influence the persistence of Plantago lanceolata populations. The results of my study are important in the recommendation crops to be grown for adaptation to climate change, (Plantago lanceolata is used as a fodder crop) and in breeding for resistance to drought conditions which are predicted to become more frequent and severe

E_mail: Odongo.Hilda.Meso(at)phd.uni-mate.hu

Santiago Ordonez, PhD candidate

My research is focused on the effects of anthropogenic pressures and climate change on plant populations and their geographic distribution. Through testing the relationship between spatial distribution patterns and several plant life history traits related to dispersal, colonisation, regeneration and persistence, my findings could contribute to a better understanding of species’ ability to respond to the spatial rearrangement of natural habitats, an important indicator of vulnerability to environmental changes.

E_mail: Ordonez.Jacome.Santiago.Fernando(at)phd.uni-mate.hu

Vivien Szász, BSc Student

My research is focused on ecological islands on the mainland. I work on ancient burial mounds (kurghans) as model system to test my hypotheses. For my BSc thesis I have investigated the effects of isolation and patch area on vegetative and reproductive traits of the perennial, non-clonal plant Salvia nemorosa, a dry grassland specialist. I am particularly interested in whether isolation can cause shifts in seed traits of S. nemorosa.

Dániel Szijj, BSc student (2022), MSc student (2023)

For my BSc, I tested parallel patterns of biodiversity and abundance of the endemic Seseli leucospermum in the Transdanubian Mountains of Hungary. I have investigated determinants of these patterns at biogeographic, landscape and microhabitat scales. For my MSc thesis, I am exploring more in-depth the effects of the macro- and microclimate on the demography of Seseli leucospermum across the species' geographic area of distribution.

Nour Zayani Elhouda, BSc student (2021), MSc student (2023)

For my BSc thesis, I studied the demography and population dynamics of orchid species in Soroksár Botanical Garden, Budapest. For my MSc thesis, I am currently investigating the effect of microhabitat conditions and geographic isolation on the vital rates of Salvia nemorosa in fragmented dry grasslands.

Associated lab members

Verbényiné Neumann Krisztina, PhD Student

I am a PhD candidate with Professor Szilárd Czóbel at the Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Gödöllő. My research is focused on the effects of urban excess heat and climate change on wild growing plant species. To find out how excess heat in urban environments affects the phenological patterns of species we planted specimens representing 6 different life-forms of the Raunkiær system (phanerophytes, chamaephytes, hemicryptophytes, geophytes, hemitherophytes, therophytes) in two different mesoclimatic environments, in Budapest, Füvészkert and in the MATE Botanical Garden of Gödöllő. These findings can help us to prepare for the expected effects of climate change and inform biodiversity conservation actions.

In the Spatial Ecology Group I am applying my experience of the PhD research to investigate the effects of flowering phenology on the demographic performance of Salvia nemorosa on kurgans of the Hungarian Great Plain.

E_mail: Neumann.Krisztina86(at)gmail.com

Réka Fekete, Postdoctoral researcher

My previous research mainly focused on roadsides as anthropogenic orchid habitats with the lead of Attila Molnár V. as the supervisor of my PhD at the University of Debrecen. During the last seven years, we surveyed 17 European countries and gathered data on habitat characteristics and traits of roadside orchids.

I joined the Spatial Ecology Group to start using this large dataset for testing general, well-known biogeographical patterns such as the centre-periphery hypotheses and the island theory on roadside orchid data. On the one hand we test how the distance of roadside orchid populations from the centre of their geographic range affects the vegetative traits of individuals, on the other hand we analyze the difference in traits between orchid populations found on island and mainland. This would be the first research that analyzes the above mentioned biogeographical hypotheses in anthropogenic habitats, and could help us understand the mechanisms influencing the persistence of plant populations in these habitats and provide guidelines for orchid conservation.

E_mail: feketereka722(at)gmail.com

Former lab members

Zsófia Szórádi, MSc student (2021)

Zsófia studied determinants of biodiversity in boreal temporary ponds of the Carpathian Mountains, Romania. She tested how pond area and spatial location affects the diversity of plant species and the diversity of different plant functional groups. Her research contributes to a better understanding of habitat islands in anthropogenic landscapes and fundament their conservation.

Herceg-Szórádi, Z., Demeter, L., & Csergő, A M. (2023). Small area and low connectivity constrain the diversity of plant life strategies in temporary ponds. Diversity and Distributions, 29, 629– 640. https://doi.org/10.1111/ddi.13685

Caroline Carelli Baptistella, BSc student (2021)

Caroline studied the ecosystem services of weeds in Soroksár Botanical Garden, Budapest

Szabina Miklósi, BSc student (2019)

Szabina studied the population biology of Ophioglossum vulgatum L. in Soroksár Botanical Garden, Budapest