Cooperation in Long Term Ecological Research in Central and
Eastern Europe
Proceedings of the ILTER Regional Workshop
22-25 June, 1999
Budapest, Hungary
Edited by Kate Lajtha and Kristin Vanderbilt
Oregon State University
Cover design: Janet Squire
Cover illustration: The polluted regions of the rivers studied in the Eastern-tributaries of the Tisa River. Figure
1 from “The ecological state of the Eastern-tributaries of the Tisa River - based on characteristics of the
physico-chemical parameters, the flora and fauna” by Andrei Sárkány-Kiss and Kunigunda Macalik.
Printed by Oregon State University, Printing and Mailing Services, January 2000
Lajtha, K. and K. Vanderbilt, eds. 2000. Cooperation in Long Term Ecological Research in Central and Eastern
Europe: Proceedings of the ILTER Regional Workshop, 22-25 June, 1999, Budapest, Hungary. Oregon State
University, Corvallis, OR.
Contents:
Preface
Kate Lajtha (Oregon State University)
Edit Kovacs-Láng (Hungarian Academy of Sciences)
What can we learn from site networks?
Nitrate leaching from European forests: results and lessons from NITREX and other
co-operative projects in W. Europe
Per Gundersen (Danish Forest and Landscape Research Institute)…………………………………………1
Controls on forest soil organic matter development and dynamics: chronic litter
manipulation as a potential international LTER activity
Knute Nadelhoffer (Ecosystems Center, Woods Hole, MA)
Richard Bowden (Allegheny College)
Richard Boone (University of Alaska)
Kate Lajtha (Oregon State University)…………………………………………………..……………..……3
Air pollution and forest health in Central Europe: lessons from a regional network
of sites
Andrzej Bytnerowicz (USDA Forest Service/University of California)……………...………....…………11
Comparative watershed studies - opportunities and limitations
William H. McDowell (University of New Hampshire)……………...……………………...……………..17
Development of a forest ILTER in Central Europe
Andrzej Bytnerowicz (USDA Forest Service/University of California)……...……………………...…….25
International Initiatives
The International Biodiversity Observation Year 2001-2002
Diana H. Wall
Sheri L. Simmons
Gina A. Adams
(Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, Colorado State University)………………….....……….…35
Global Terrestrial Observing System Net Primary Productivity Demonstration
Project: validation sites of Hungary, the Czech Republic and the Ukraine
John R. Vande Castle (University of New Mexico)……………………………...…………...…………….39
Data Management
Metadata for Long-Term Ecological Research
Kristin Vanderbilt (Oregon State University)……………………………...………………………...……..45
Development of Long-Term Research in Central Europe
Romania
The Long Term Ecological Research Network in Romania
A. Vadineanu
S. Cristofor
C. Postolache
(University of Bucharest)
I. Barbu (Institute of Biological Sciences)
M. Pauca-Comanescu (Forest Research Institute Campulung – Moldovenesc)…………….……………..47
Estonia
Long-term monitoring activities in Estonia
Reet Talkop (Estonian Environment Information Centre)…………………………..……..………...…….61
Examples of LTER activities
Hungary and US/Hungarian collaborations
Organization of grasslands along ecological gradients: US-Hungarian LTER
grassland cooperation
J. Gosz (University of New Mexico)
D. Peters (Jornada Experimental Range)
M. Kertész
E. Kovács-Láng
Gy. Kröel-Dulay
S. Bartha
(Institute of Ecology and Botany, Hungarian Academy of Sciences)……………………..………….67
Successional dynamics of sand dune plant and invertebrate communities:
the role of stress and disturbances
László Körmöczi
László Gallé
György Györffy
Katalin Margóczi
(József Attila University)…………………………………………………..………………………….77
A project-independent data structure for zoological studies in long term
ecological research
Ferenc Samu (Plant Protection Institute, Hungarian Academy of Sciences)………………………………85
Meteorological, hydrological and ecological investigations in the forest
covered watershed project "Hidegvízvölgy"
Péter Víg
M. Kucsara
Z. Gribovszki
Imre Berki
(University of Sopron)………………………...………………………………………………………89
Landscapes and vegetation along a climatic and edaphic gradient: variabilty
of the sandy grasslands in the Hungarian Region
Gábor Fekete
Zsolt Molnár
András Kun
Zoltán Botta-Dukát
(Institute of Ecology and Botany of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences)………..…………………91
On the relationship of nitrogen loading and the vegetation in the forests of
Kőszeg Hills
Dénes Bartha
András Bidló
Gábor Kovács
(University of Sopron)……………………………………...…………………………………………93
Survival and susceptibility to photoinhibition of beech forest species after
deforestation at Rejtek Research Site, Hungary
Ilona Mészáros
Szilvia Veres
Viktor R. Tóth
Réka Láposi
Orsolya Mile
(Kossuth Lajos University)…………………………………………..………………...…...…………95
Romania and Hungary
The ecological state of the Eastern-tributaries of the Tisa River - based on
characteristics of the physico-chemical parameters, the flora and fauna
Andrei Sárkány-Kiss
Kunigunda Macalik
(Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj)……………………………………….…………………..…………97
Romania
Overview of the long term ecological research performed by GEOECOMAR
in the Danube Delta, Romania
Silviu Radan
Andrei Ganciu
Claudia Strechie
(National Institute of Marine Geology and Geo-ecology (GEOECOMAR))…………………..……101
Ukraine
Long-term productivity forest and grassland studies in the Ukrainian Carpathians
Ihor Kozak (Institute of Ecology of the Carpathians, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine)………113
Slovakia
Effect of forest health on biodiversity with emphasis on air pollution in
the Carpathian mountains
Július Oszlányi
Peter Barančok
Mária Varšavová
(Institute of Landscape Ecology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences)……………...……………….115
Evaluation of ozone air pollution and its phytotoxic potential in Carpathian forests
Július Oszlányi
Peter Barančok
Mária Varšavová
(Institute of Landscape Ecology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences)………………..…….……….117
Chemical composition of deciduous and coniferous vegetation, mosses and
humus as an indicator of sustainable forest management in Slovakia
Blanka Mankovská (Forest Research Institute)……………………………………..……………………119
USA
Opportunities for Long-Term Ecological Research at the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve,
Oklahoma
Michael W. Palmer (Oklahoma State University)
Thomas Wohlgemuth (Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research)
Peter Earls (Oklahoma State University)
José Ramón Arévalo (Universidad de La Laguna)
Steven Thompson (Oklahoma State University)…………………………………..…………………….123
PREFACE
Long-term, cross-system data are now recognized as crucial to our understanding of environmental change and
management. Cross-site research within the Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) network has led to
insights into patterns of biodiversity and primary production, controls on pollutant leaching from natural
watersheds, hydrologic controls on nitrate export, and many other issues relating to global change. The LTER
network has long realized that cross-site research offers scientists the opportunity to make generalizations about
ecological phenomena, and to test the validity of local findings. The International LTER (ILTER) Network was
formed with a mission to facilitate international cooperation among scientists engaged in similar long-term
ecological research. The main objectives are to promote and enhance understanding of long term ecological
phenomena across national and regional boundaries, facilitate interaction among participating scientists across
sites and disciplines, promote comparability of observations and experiments, contribute to the scientific basis
for ecosystem management and improve predictive modeling at larger spatial and temporal scales, assist in the
establishment of networks for long-term ecological research in other countries, and create programs and scientist
exchanges between U.S. and foreign LTER sites and networks.
This volume reports the proceedings from a workshop held in Budapest, Hungary, from 22-25 June, 1999, titled
“Cooperation in Long Term Ecological Research in Central and Eastern Europe”. The goal of this workshop
was to promote a regional ILTER network of sites and research questions in the Carpathian Basin region,
involving The Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Ukraine, and Slovakia, and Estonia. This workshop
brought together scientists from these different countries and from the US to share research ideas, plan linked
experiments and measurements, discuss potential ILTER sites in countries without formal ILTER programs,
introduce scientists from different countries to each other and to the other ILTER sites, and to share data
management and networking programs. The Carpathian Basin ecoregion is a fairly consistent physicogeographical unit, still rather rich in biota and with relatively high biodiversity. This region, due to its distinct
and intensive patterns of land use and its environmental history, offers scientists a unique opportunity to test and
expand models linking land use history to biogeochemical cycling and nutrient use, air pollution to ecosystem
structure and function, and perhaps even anthropogenic effects of air pollution and land use to biodiversity. It is
the belief of the organizers of this conference that having linked experiments and observations across a broad
region can increase the chances for significant EEU funding of collaborative research, promote the positive
exchange of research ideas and techniques among participants, and bring to international attention the research
in these ILTER sites.
Presentations were given on highly successful networks already in place in Europe and several international
initiatives, including DIRT, EXMAN, IBOY and the GTOS NPP Demonstration Project. Proposals for specific
research networks in Central Europe, such as DIRT and a Central European forest ILTER, were discussed.
Scientists from Romania presented preliminary plans for a long term ecological research network in Romania,
and Estonia described an environmental monitoring network. A number of examples of LTER activities in
participating countries were given, including collaborations within CE countries and with the US. Finally,
breakout groups gathered along disciplinary lines to discuss future collaborative efforts.
We hope that this meeting will serve as a starting point for the establishment of networks for long-term
ecological research in Central European countries, and for the creation of programs and scientist exchanges
between U.S. and foreign LTER sites and networks. For logistical and financial support, we would like to thank
NSF International Programs, the US EPA, the US-Hungary Science and Technology Program, the Hungarian
Academy of Sciences and its Ecological Centre in Vácrátót, the ILTER Network Office (and many thanks to
Patty Sprott), and Oregon State University (particularly Janet Squire).
Kate Lajtha
Edit Kovács-Láng
Workshop Co-Organizers