The main objective of the group is to study ecological communities. We focus mostly on freshwater macroinvertebrates. We examine the effects of human impacts on freshwater biodiversity. We deal also with the methodology of community ecology. We are interested in approaches quantifying community-level phenomena
The research group has broad interests covering many aspects of community ecology, such as food web ecology, plankton ecology, eco-evolutionary dynamics, and global change ecology. Our core motivation is to perform proof-of-concept experiments in order to validate ecological theories and empirical observations.
The group studies the distribution, diversity, dynamics and ecophysiology of phytoplankton (nano-, micro- and picoplankton) in Lake Balaton and other lakes with particular emphasis on extreme habitats.
The primary task of the research group is to study the structure, biological functions and long-term changes of the aquatic ecosystems and their communities (zooplankton, macro-invertebrate, fish, amphibian, reptile, waterbird) especially regard to the Danube and Tisza River valley ecosystems.
- Chemical characterization of aquatic environment (water body, sediment, phyto- and zooplankton, phyto-and zoobenthos, macrophyton, macro invertebrates, fish) with special attention to the exploration of pollution sources and identification and quantification of pollutants (e.g. pharmaceutical residues, microplastics)
- Monitoring of water quality in rivers and lakes complying with the requirement of the EU Water Framework Directives and database building to follow the changes of physical, chemical and biological parameters of Lake of Balaton as well as Duna and Tisza rivers
Development and management of IT applications, databases and web tools for ecology, botany and nature conservation. Contribution to developemtn of Biome-BGC ecosystem modeling and perform simulation runs. Modeling energy flow, carbon and nitrogen cycling of forest ecosystems.
Long term monitoring of strict forest reserves focused on stand structure, shrub and understorey layers. See: Homepage of Forest Reserve Programme.