Acta Botanica Hungarica 

About: Acta Botanica Hungarica is an academic journal published by Akadémiai Kiadó. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Genus & Flora. It has an ISSN identifier of 0236-6495. Over the lifetime, 674 publications have been published receiving 4202 citations. The journal is also known as: Acta botanica (Print).

Investigation of benthic algal communities, especially diatoms of some Hungarian streams in connection with reference conditions of the water framework directives

Abstract: Benthic diatom investigations of some Hungarian streams have been carried out in order to find reference sites in assistance to the ecological quality analysis of the different river types according to the Hungarian river typology. On the basis of the coevaluation of biological and chemical parameters, among the investigated streams, some part of Kemence stream seems to be the appropriate reference site for the classification of the highland, siliceous rivers of Hungary. However, further invastigations are needed for the selection of reference sites for the other types of Hungarian river typology. This is the most difficult in the case of lowland rivers, which are exposed to more severe anthropogenic impacts. Important is the question which biological parameters should be investigated and considered when assessing the ecological condition of our waters. In the United States, e.g. the assessment of the relative abundance of Achnanthidium minutissimum is quite widespread (Stevenson and Bahls 1999), the exte...

Potentials and applications of algal pigments in biology and industry

Abstract: A wide variety of pigments, like chlorophyll, carotenoids and phycobiliproteins, which exhibit colours ranging from green, yellow, brown to red are present in algae. Increasing awareness of harmful effects of synthetic dyes and inclination of society towards the usage of natural products, such as plant / microbial based colours in food and cosmetics, has led to the exploitation of microalgae as a source of natural colours. Algal pigments have great commercial value as natural colorants in nutraceutical, cosmetics and pharmaceutical industry, besides their health benefits. Spirulina, Dunaliella capsules are now commonly prescribed health foods for improving vitality and longevity of human beings. This review describes the distribution, structure of these pigments in algae, with emphasis on specific techniques for extraction and purification, along with different methods of biomass production and commercially feasible techniques documented in literature. An overview of the industrial applications of these n...

New and noteworthy lichen-forming and lichenicolous fungi

Abstract: Seventeen taxa new for science, i.e. Absconditella baegasanensis, Caloplaca hallasanensis, C. subconcilians, Fellhanera chejuensis, F. maritima, Lecania coreana, L. rinodinoides, Lichenostigma heterodermiae, Micarea coreana, Phoma heterodermiae, Protoparmeliopsis chejuensis, Roselliniopsis phaeophysciae, Topelia jasonhurii (all from South Korea); Caloplaca dzhankoiensis (from Ukraine); Protoparmeliopsis pseudogyrophoricum (from China); P. taranii (from Russia); and Seirophora blumii (from several Central Asian countries) are described, compared with closely related taxa, and illustrated.Five new combinations are proposed: Caloplaca subscopularis, Protoparmeliopsis crustaceum, P. gyrophoricum, P. mazatzalensis, and P. pinguis.A total of 64 lichen-forming and lichenicolous fungi are reported here as new for South Korea (i.e. Abrothallus microspermus, Amandinea melaxanthella, Arthonia epiphyscia, Arthothelium ruanum, Aspicilia contorta subsp. hoffmanniana, Biatora globulosa, Brigantiaea purpurata, Caloplaca ...

New thousand-seed weight records of the Pannonian flora and their application in analysing social behaviour types

Abstract: In the present paper we report original thousand-seed weight data for the flora of the Pannonian Basin. Our goal was to demonstrate the usefulness of seed weight databases by analysing seed weight data in relation to social behaviour types and life forms. We specifically asked the following questions: (i) how the seed weights are related to social behaviour type categories; (ii) how the life form of the species influences seed weight differences between respective social behaviour types? Own weight measurements are provided for 1,405 taxa; and for 187 taxa we published seed weight data for the first time: these were mostly endemics, orchids and/or species with Pontic, Caspian or continental distribution. Several taxonomic or functional groups are underrepresented in our database, like aquatic plants, rare arable weeds and sub-Mediterranean species. Problematic taxa, some difficult-to-harvest species or species with low seed production and cultivated adventives are also underrepresented. We found that the plant strategies expressed by social behaviour types were significantly different in terms of seed weights. The lowest seed weight scores were found for natural pioneers, whereas the highest ones were found for adventives and introduced cultivated plants. Short-lived herbaceous species had significantly higher seed weight scores than herbaceous perennials. No significant differences were found between specialists and generalists within the stress tolerant group. We found that short-lived graminoids possess heavier seeds than perennial graminoids, perennial and annual forbs. Naturalness scores were negatively correlated with seed weights. Our findings showed that seed collections and databases are not only for storing plant material and seed weight data, but can be effectively used for understanding ecological trends and testing plant trait-based hypotheses. Even the identified gaps underline the necessity of further seed collection and measurements.