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A pot experiment was set up at the Experimental Farm of the Faculty of Horticultural Sciences of the Szent István University in 2001 investigating the revitalization effect of selected treatments on thermal-treated soils and other production substances. In the experiment 6 factors and 7 treatments were used, each in 4 replicates, using rape ( Brassica napus DC ) as test plant. During the time period of the experiment (29 May-17 August) continuous observations and measurements were conducted, plant and soil analyses - chemical and microbiological - were made to establish the main effects and results of the different treatments. These are discussed in the paper in detail. Although the soil-vitalization procedures were of great success, no treatment in the experiment had an extremely positive effect. Various additives, however could enhance the re-colonization processes significantly.  According to the basic factors (the soils or substrates) the best treatments were: the A1 (clay-pearl) additive and the C2, C3 factors (the medium and low temperature soil treatments).  Among the treatment combinations, treatments IV and VII were the best ( compost and compost + inocula addition). This fact shows that the compost in a good quality, and the compost enriched, compost extracted microbial inocula can play the most important role in the revitalization of thermal-treated soils. Manure addition and the manure + inocula treatment can also be used as a prominent treatment in the restoration, to increase the organic matter content and the microbial activity in soils. The single alga- and microbial inocula treatment was not successful permanently, therefore their use - without adding any parallel organic matter - cannot be recommended. Investigations of the soil microbial activity showed that the lowest temperature of thermal treatments had resulted a more effective revitalization. The clay-pearl additive increased the persistency and activity of the microbes in the soil. It was also obviously found that the organic additives with or without the microbial inoculations could be used potentially as the best soil revitalization treatments. 

Cadmium, nickel or zinc contaminated soils originating from a long-term heavy metal field experiment were used to assess the influence of those particular treatments on the coexistence of various Trichoderma species. The abundance of six indigenous Trichoderma spp. - T . atroviride , T . harzianum , T . pubescens , T . tomentosum , T . virens and T . viride - were studied 12 years after the application of Cd, Zn and Ni salts on four levels (0, 30, 90 and 270 mg·kg ^-1 ) in a calcareous chernozem soil. Trichoderma fungal colonies from the soil particles were estimated on selective media. The isolated strains were taxonomically characterized by microscopic visualization.  A reduced Trichoderma fungal colonization was found at the lower ratio of the studied metals. No colonization could be recorded in the case of Cd, and a slightly increased abundance at Ni and Zn metal salts at the highest 270 mg·kg ^-1 doses. The species composition of the fungi varied considerably in the contaminated samples as a function of the metals and the applied doses. Correlation analysis revealed that the population density of T . atroviride , T . harzianum , T . pubescens , T . viride was negatively affected by the available Cd concentration. The nickel content of the soil, however, correlated positively with the abundance of T . harzianum (r = 0.955) and T . virens (r = 0.964). In addition to this finding, the frequency of T . viride and T . tomentosum showed significant positive and negative correlation with the Zn treatment (r = 0.955; r = -0.965, respectively). Great differences between the correlation and partial correlation coefficients suggested that the heavy metals may alter not only the abundance of the fungi, but the interspecific relationships among the indigenous Trichoderma population, as well. This fact is considered to have further influence on some other biotic parameters and the soil functioning in heavy-metal-affected soils.

Összefoglalás. A biztonságra evidenciaként tekint az utazó a desztinációválasztás során. Annak tartalma erősen szubjektív, egyénenként eltérő szintet képvisel. A COVID–19-járvány időszakában megvalósult kutatásunk válasszal kívánt szolgálni többek között arra, hogy az időskorú német utazók esetében mely faktorok határozzák meg leginkább a desztináció preferenciát, és ez hogyan tükröződik a költésükben. 2021. július–október között megvalósításra került személyes megkérdezés végső mintáját 347 fő (55+ éves) német szenior utazó adta. Az eredmények rámutattak, hogy a marketingtudomány által, általánosan homogénként kezelt fogyasztói szegmens további alszegmensekre bontható, tipizálható, továbbá a desztináció preferenciát esetükben leginkább az infrastruktúra minősége és a biztonság határozza meg.

Summary. Introduction: Tourism does not exist without security. In Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, security is the second most determinant aspect after physiological concerns. We consider that as an evident fact, thus the secure nature of a destination is an obvious expectation regarding travelling aspects. The measure and actual meaning of this latter component is quite subjective, thus it varies person by person. Security can be investigated from several aspects, so it is important to highlight that our sample was analysed in relation to health security concerns.

Investigation materials and methods: In our research, conducted during the period of the COVID-19 pandemic, we pursued to outline the role of security, as well as the so-called Corona-Protocol, which was established for prevention purposes regarding the chosen destinations in the case of elderly travellers, and to find out how it is reflected in their touristic spending. We conducted personal interviews (PAPI) between July and October 2021 with the participation of 419 people, whose final sample – after being filtered regarding age and nationality aspects – consisted of 347 German senior (age group: 55+) travellers. The survey was carried out on three locations within Hungary (Pécs, Kalocsa, Budapest) with the participation of coordinators.

Research outcomes: The received replies were analysed – at first, the 48 touristic variables were submitted to factor analysis, which helped in the allocation of main components. By the use of these main components, we identified further sub-segments (traveller types) within the segments, which gave a superb illustration about the inaccurate nature of the practice, when senior travellers are considered as a homogenous group. In the case of five clusters – despite similar age averages – we identified distinct characteristics concerning the aspects of qualifications, incomes and the measure of touristic expenses, while the priorities regarding destination expectations, security, infrastructure and pricing were also different. Despite their relatively weak explanation capacities, our outcomes – received by regression modelling – pointed out that regarding our sample, the measure of touristic expenses was mostly determined by the infrastructural quality of destination and security. Thereby we can answer the question how much the cost of security for German senior travellers is. Furthermore, another outcome was the realisation that different habitat locations within the same home country have significant impact on the spending of German senior travellers. Our research could constitute an appropriate basis for further research regarding the investigated subject and traveller segment.

A pot experiment was designed to study the colonization of indigenous arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) on barley ( Hordeum vulgare L.) host plant. Soils of the pots were collected from a long-term field microelement loading experiment on calcareous chernozem soil twelve years after 13 heavy metals (Al, As, Ba, Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Mo, Ni, Pb, Se, Sr and Zn) were applied once in four doses (0, 30, 90 and 270 mg element·kg ^-1 d.w.). The biomass production and element accumulation of the host plant, the various colonization values of the arbuscular mycorrhiza fungi (AMF) – such as colonization intensity (M %), arbusculum richness (A %) in the root system and the sporulation intensity (g ^-1 dry soil) in the rhizosphere – were measured. When considering the twelve-year adaptation process of the AM fungal populations at the various metal loads, a relatively balanced inside mycorrhiza colonization was found, suggesting the potentials for the selection of tolerant fungi in metal contaminated soils. The balanced infection intensity (M %) of the AM fungi and their common strategies with the host plant have resulted a nonsignificant shoot and root biomass production of barley in general. Mycorrhiza sporulation in the root system proved to be much variable and indicated the toxicity of metals and metal rates. Cd, Pb and Sr elements significantly reduced spore numbers, while a value of 34 spores·g ^-1 soil was counted in the case of Ni in comparison to the control’s 22 spores·g ^-1 soil value. Stress-defending strategies of the fungal–plant symbiosis, such as the increased arbusculum richness (A %) could be established for the Hg and Pb rates. In the case of Cd an increased root biomass production became a tool for stress alleviation and reduced the metal allocation towards the shoots. Mycorrhiza fungi are part of the common plant–microbe interactions and appropriate defending mechanisms in metal contaminated soils.

The relationship between some soil physical-chemical characteristics, with more focus on the types of salt-specific anions and the colonisation parameters of the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) were examined on the most dominant halophytes, grown at four saline soils in Hungary. At site Z (Zám) mainly the chloride, at site Ny (Nyírõlapos) mainly the sulphate ions dominated in the soil samples, while at site A (Apajpuszta) and site Zsz (Zabszék) the carbonate anions were the most frequent. A large colonisation variability of the AM fungi were found in the four saline sites and the studied halophytes. Among the affecting soil-plant factors a strong host dependency was recorded with almost no mycorrhiza colonisation on Puccinellia limosa and the highest values at the Plantago maritima and Aster tripolium . As a function of the salt-levels a relative location of the halophytes could be found at each sites. The AMF colonisation intensity (M%) and functioning, measured as arbusculum richness (A%) was reduced with the overall increasing salinity, more particularly with the total cation-content of the soils. The deleterious effect of some other abiotic factors, i.e., the very poor or rich nutrient availability and the humus accumulation tended to be also negatively correlated by the mycorrhizal parameters.

Abstract

The degree of soil pollutants in the Dunaújváros area has been monitored regularly at 10 sampling points of the town from the upper 0–20 cm and lower 20–40 cm layers of the soils. The quantity of some organic (PAH, TPH) and inorganic (toxic metal) pollutants were determined by GC-MS and ICP analyzation. Microbial status, such as the total cultivable bacteria (CFU) and total catabolic enzyme activity, measured by fluorescein diacetate analysis (FDA) were also estimated. The area of the industrial town could be divided into more and less contaminated regions, although the measured pollutants were far below the estimated permissible limits. However, at some of the more polluted soils even triple amounts of contaminants could be measured compared to the lesscontaminated sites. Among inorganics the Zn microelement reached the highest levels (average is about 100 mg·kg⁻¹ soil), which could be related to the heavy industrial activity. A positive correlation appeared among the organic and inorganic pollutants and also between the pollutants and the measured enzymatic values. The enhanced FDA activity was found at the most contaminated sites preceding the potential “loss of function” on a long-term basis. The fast and reliable microbial parameter could be suggested as further regular monitoring tool.

The theory of âeœcodon-amino acid coevolutionâe? was first proposed by Woese in 1967. It suggests that there is a stereochemical matching - that is, affinity - between amino acids and certain of the base triplet sequences that code for those amino acids. We have constructed a Common Periodic Table of Codons and Amino Acids, where the Nucleic Acid Table showed perfect axial symmetry for codons and the corresponding Amino Acid Table also displayedperiodicity regarding the biochemical properties (charge and hydrophobicity) of the 20 amino acids and the position of the stop signals. The Table indicates that the middle (2 nd) amino acid in the codon has a prominent role in determining some of the structural features of the amino acids. The possibility that physical contact between codons and amino acids might exist was tested on restriction enzymes. Many recognition site-like sequences were found in the coding sequences of these enzymes and as many as 73 examples of codon-amino acid co-location were observed in the 7 known 3D structures (December 2003) of endonuclease-nucleic acid complexes. These results indicate that the smallest possible units of specific nucleic acid-protein interaction are indeed the stereochemically compatible codons and amino acids.

The increased endangerment and rapid devastation of the vegetation on the Danube-Tisza Interfluve are quite complex processes that can be approached from a manifold ways. One of the most important factors having influenced the vegetation in the recent past is the decline of the groundwater-level, the extent of which is well known and the reasons for that have been investigated for a long time. However, only few have studied its dramatic effect on the vegetation outside the local scale. In the first part of our bipartite article we discuss the regional habitat-pattern of the landscape, the background factors determining it, and the basic features of fen and alkali vegetation (Biró et al. 2007). In this second part, this will be completed by the sand, riverine and steppe vegetation and the data on habitat devastation on the regional scale. The analysis of the present habitat-pattern of the region was based on data of the actual (1996–2000) habitat map of Danube-Tisza Interfluve (Molnár et al. 2000, Biró et al. 2003) and on our experiences during the field survey. The quantitative analysis of the vegetation pattern was carried out considering the vegetation subregions. Our aim is to expose the actual state of the landscape, the vegetation and the rapid devastation of the natural habitats, by quantifying the current processes.Our results demonstrate that the extension of those habitats on the Danube-Tisza Interfluve that were not under cultivation in the 1980s has decreased drastically, by 40,074 ha (approx. 15%). The main reasons for grassland devastations are ploughing, afforestation, the invasion of shrubs and trees, the building in activity and the establishment of open water surfaces. The most serious decline in the recent past was observed in the case of fen vegetation: the decrease of its extension was estimated to be 10–11%. More than half of the habitats disappeared as a result of ploughing and grassland-devastation due to urbanisation (building in, development of infrastructure, etc.) was covered by fen vegetation, while about a quarter of them consisted of alkali habitats. Sand areas mostly decline because of the spontaneous invasion of alien species and afforestation, which led to the devastation of approx. 4% of the natural and disturbed sand vegetation. Astonishing is the fact that the total extension of the more-or-less disturbed or devastated habitats altogether comprise roughly half (49%) of the actually mapped vegetation patches of the Interfluve (137,908 ha). By summing up the areas of the most frequent habitat types of the vegetation subregions, it became evident that the grasslands, ploughed in the past 15 years, are among the first five most spacious habitat types in all subregions.

Phytoremediation is an approach designed to extract excessive heavy metals from contaminated soils through plant uptake. Cadmium (Cd) is among the elements most toxic to living organisms. Health hazards associated with the lethal intake of Cd include renal (kidney) damage, anaemia, hypertension and liver damage. A greenhouse experiment was carried out with Indian mustard (Brassica juncea) grown on artificially spiked soil (100 μg Cd g⁻¹) with EDTA (2 mmol kg⁻¹ in 5 split doses), FYM, vermicompost (VC) and microbial inoculants (MI) such as Azotobacter sp. and Pseudomonas sp. The growth of Brassica juncea L. was better in soil amended with FYM or VC as compared to unamended Cd-polluted soil. Growth was slightly suppressed in EDTA-treated soil, whereas it was better after treatment with MI. The application of FYM and VC increased the dry matter yield of Indian mustard either alone or in combination with microbial inoculants, while that of EDTA caused a significant decrease in the biomass of Indian mustard. The application of microbial inoculants increased the dry matter yield of both the roots and shoots, but not significantly, because MI shows greater sensitivity towards cadmium. The maximum cadmium concentration was observed in the EDTA +MI treatment, but Cd uptake was maximum in the VC + MI treatment. The Cd concentration in the shoots increased by 120% in Cd_EDTA over the Cd₁₀₀ treatment, followed by Cd_VC (65%) and Cd_FYM (42%) in the absence of microbial inoculants. The corresponding values in the presence of MI were 107, 51 and 37%, respectively. A similar trend was also observed in the roots in the order Cd_EDTA+M > Cd_VC+M > Cd_FYM+M>Cd_100+M.MI caused an increase in Cd content of 5.5% in the roots and 4.1% in the shoots in the Cd_EDTA+M treatment compared with the Cd_EDTA treatment. FYM, VC and EDTA also increased Cd uptake significantly both in the shoots and roots with and without microbial inoculants.The results indicated that Vermicompost in combination with microbial inoculants is the best treatment for the phytoremediation of Cd-contaminated soil by Indian mustard, as revealed by the Cd uptake values in the shoots: Cd_VC+M (2265.7 μg/pot) followed by Cd_EDTA+M (2251.2 μg/pot), Cd_FYM+M (1485.7 μg/pot) and Cd_100+M (993.1 μg/pot).

The terricolous species Cladonia foliacea (Cladoniaceae, lichenised Ascomycota) widely distributed in open, dry lowland steppe and rocky mountain grassland vegetation in Europe was chosen as a potential test organism for ecological experiments, since their thalli are producing cortical solar radiation-protective and UV screening pigment dibenzofuran usnic acid and medullary secondary substance depsidone fumarprotocetraric acid. Significant seasonal differences were found in the amounts of lichen secondary metabolites analysed by HPTLC and HPLC-PDA between summer and winter collected thalli in sandy grassland area in Hungary. The concentrations of usnic acid varied between 7.34 and 15.52 mg/g in summer collected samples and 13.90 and 21.61 mg/g in winter collected ones. A comparable amount (11.61±0.29 mg/g) was measured in pulverised samples. The concentrations of fumarprotocetraric acid varied between 0.60 and 3.01 mg/g in summer collected samples and 2.26 and 5.81 mg/g in winter collected thalli. A comparable amount (2.45±0.21 mg/g) was found in pulverised samples. The range of concentration values is comparable with data known from lichens. A higher amount of usnic acid is produced in winter probably to ensure sufficient protection also for summer. The fumarprotocetraric acid content of the medulla might contribute to the solar irradiation reflecting role of the pale lower surface lobes turning upwards in dry condition.