2021-2025 OTKA FK 138698: Hitchhiker’s Guide to the waterbirds: seed dispersal effectiveness (PI: Ádám Lovas-Kiss).
Wetlands are shrinking and fragmenting due to human activities, which makes dispersal between these habitats more difficult for aquatic organisms. Waterbirds can be the perfect vectors for wetland plants, but we lack information about their dispersal role compared to frugivorous and scatter-hoarding birds. At the moment, there is little data about what kind of plant species can be transported by waterbirds. Moreover, we lack an understanding of how plant and bird traits affect waterbird-plant dispersal interactions. Neither do we know enough about the possible survival and reproduction of the dispersed plant species. Our starting hypothesis is that there are differences in the dispersed species of the different functional groups of waterbirds. Moreover, the movement of the waterbirds affects the success rate of the dispersal of the dispersed species.
2023-2026 OTKA PD 145938: Effect of functional traits of phytoplankton on their waterbird-mediated dispersal network (PI: Ádám Lovas-Kiss)
Birds provide multiple ecosystem services, and one of the most important is their role in plant dispersal. However, research on this topic has primarily focused on frugivory and seed caching, despite evidence that granivorous waterbirds also play a significant role in plant dispersal. While studies have been conducted on Angiosperm plants, few have investigated the dispersal of phytoplankton by waterbirds, despite their importance in maintaining wetlands. In my study, I plan to investigate which phytoplankton species are capable of waterbird-mediated dispersal, as well as the role of functional traits in waterbird-mediated dispersal networks. I will answer these questions through a combination of field sampling and laboratory studies
2024-2029 MTA Momentum Grant: Complex dispersal networks at wetlands (PI: Ádám Lovas-Kiss) (PI: Ádám Lovas-Kiss).
Wetlands are highly complex habitats harbouring a diverse range of species interacting with each other. One of the most important interactions is vector-mediated propagule dispersal, which allows species survival in a patchy landscape such as wetlands. Waterbirds represent one of the most important dispersal vectors for all organisms living in freshwater ecosystems. To decouple these interactions in the dispersal of different organisms mediated by waterbirds, we plan to apply individual and multilayer network analysis. We aim to sample at different trophic levels: viruses, microbes, freshwater phytoplankton, higher plants, and freshwater invertebrates. By employing this approach we expect to shed light on the large range of interactions of organisms that waterbirds disperse. This allows us to identify key species maintaining the dispersal network, while the use of a multilayer approach will identify key wetland patches. In the face of climate change and anthropogenic habitat deterioration, it is very important to protect wetlands, which requires knowledge of the interactions of organisms living in them. Moreover, it is necessary to develop a unified view of how species and their interactions maintain ecosystem functioning on complex patchy wetlands. This will help to preserve wetlands for which the multilayer approach provides the most valuable tool to explore.