Weeds in and beyond the border – new publication

Due to their high ecological and agronomical variability, borderland regions offer an excellent opportunity to study weed vegetation patterns. In a research led by Gyula Pinke, professor at the Széchenyi István University, scientists compared the influence of various environmental and management factors on summer annual weed communities at the borderland region of Austria and Hungary. The scientific article summarizing the results and co-authored by Ákos Bede-Fazekas, senior lecturer of our department, was published in the prestigious (Q1, IF = 2.8) journal "Applied Vegetation Science". The researchers found that the country exhibited a small but significant influence in weed community composition, which could not be explained with easily accessible management and environmental variables. This suggests that the distinct historical agronomical background of the two countries, possibly involving some legacies of the former Iron Curtain period, still has an impact on the weed species composition of arable fields.