Farmland pollinators are influenced by landscape structure, including mean field size, floral resources, the amount of semi-natural habitats and crop type, but their relative importance and interactions for bumblebee colony performance are not well known. In our study, we focused on the concurrent role of crop type (oilseed rape vs. cereal), proximity to semi-natural habitats (close vs. far) and landscapes with small (average 2 ha) and large fields (average 17 ha) on experimentally exposed bumblebee colony fitness parameters; we also carried out a botanical survey and analysed pollen collected by the bumblebees. We conducted a homing experiment, with workers translocated 0.1–1 km from the colony, and measured the homing speed. We found a significantly higher colony traffic rate next to mass-flowering oilseed rape fields and close to semi-natural habitats. According to our structural equation model, higher traffic rates boosted colony growth rates, which in turn supported higher queen brood cell numbers. In the homing experiment, the relocated bumblebees returned to their home colony faster when it was located close to semi-natural habitats and when the flowering plant species richness was high. The homing speed was lower when semi-natural habitats were distant and flowering plant species richness was high, possibly due to fewer visual cues. Semi-natural habitats were more important for pollinators in large-scale than in small-scale agriculture. In small-scale landscapes, bumblebees returned more quickly when flowering plant species richness was low, presumably because the small-scale landscape structure (higher edge density) allowed for easier navigation by landscape visual cues. The abundance of flowering plants did not affect homing speed, presumably underlining the predominant role of orientation in small-field landscapes. Synthesis and applications: Mass-flowering crops and nearby semi-natural habitats enhance colony growth and queen production, emphasising the important role of abundant and diversified flower resources as well as neighbouring semi-natural habitats. Further, landscapes shaped by small-scale farming are crucial for sustaining and enhancing pollinator populations. Our results underscore the need to restore and maintain semi-natural habitats and to enhance floral resources. These efforts are especially effective in small-scale agricultural landscapes, which appear to improve bumblebee orientation and support biodiversity-friendly farming.

Questions: Due to their high ecological and agronomical variability, borderland regions offer an excellent opportunity to study assembly patterns. In this study we compared the influence of various factors on summer annual weed communities consisting of both native and introduced species. Location: The borderland region of Austria and Hungary. Methods: We assessed the abundance of weed species in 300 fields of six summer annual crops, and collected information on 26 background variables for each plot. We applied redundancy analysis (RDA) to estimate multivariate species responses and variation partitioning to compare the relative importance of three groups of variables (environmental variables, management variables, and country as a singleton group), and we also checked for statistical association between country and the predictors of the other two groups. Results: The full RDA model explained 22.02% of the variance in weed species composition. Variation partitioning showed that environment and management had similarly high (~8%) influence on weeds, while country had a modest yet substantial (~1%) effect, and there was relatively little overlap between the variance attributable to the three groups. Comparing the individual variables, country ranked third (after preceding crop, and actual crop). The effects of 15 further variables were also significant, including seven management, and seven environmental variables, as well as the location of the sampling plots within the fields. Comparisons between the countries showed that farming type, preceding crops, tillage system, tillage depth and field size were significantly different between the countries. Conclusions: Country exhibited a small but significant influence on 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.

Phacelia tanacetifolia, an excellent cover, green manure and honey crop is now widely cultivated throughout the world. One of its principal European seed production regions is north‐western Hungary, where the recent withdrawal of a potent herbicide, linuron, created a new challenge for many growers. The goal of this study is to identify the main factors determining weed species composition in the phacelia fields of the region and to assess the efficiency of tine harrow and clopyralid herbicide in reducing weed abundance and biomass. We carried out a series of weed surveys across the study region following a two‐level design: (i) we estimated the cover of all weed species in 205 fields (broad‐scale survey, BS); and (ii) in 22 of these fields, we provided more precise biomass measurements (counting the individuals and measuring the dry weights of all weed species) in microplots samples (fine‐scale survey; FS). To characterize the fields, 34 background variables were also collected for all of the studied fields. In both investigations, Chenopodium album was by far the most abundant weed. Within the BS, using a minimal adequate model containing 11 terms with significant net effects, 20.93% of the total variation in weed species data could be explained. The variation in species composition was determined by environmental factors (soil pH, clay and K; precipitation and temperature), non‐chemical management variables (crop cover, preceding crop, irrigation and tillage system) and herbicides (linuron and clopyralid). Variation partitioning demonstrated the dominance of environmental and cultural components in shaping the weed species composition. Although the effect of mechanical treatments was most likely masked in the BS by the soil properties, our FS suggests that tine harrow could efficiently decrease the total number and biomass of weeds and can be a useful tool in the phacelia management of the future.

From 2012 to 2015 32 woodland grape genotypes were collected from the Szigetköz and the Fertő-Hanság National Park, Hungary, and ex-situ preserved in the gene bank of the NARIC Research Institute for Viticulture and Enology in Badacsony, Hungary. Phenological development stages based on the BBCH scale and ampelographic data according to 30 OIV descriptors were recorded. Isozyme and SSR analyses were carried out in the preserved genotypes, 18 Vitis vinifera varieties and 20 rootstocks were also analysed for comparison. Summarizing the results it can be estab-lished, that the ex-situ preserved genotypes are true-to-type woodland grapes, belonging to Vitis sylvestris Gmel. var. typica. Further quest, ex-situ and in-situ preservation and analyses of the Vitis sylvestris Gmel. germplasm in Hungary are needed.

The quest and conservation of existing populations of woodland grape (Vitis vinifera L. ssp. sylvestris Gmelin), the supposed progenitor of the European grapevine (Vitis vinifera L. ssp. sativa) and a significant actor in the evolution of grapevine, has great importance in preserving biodiversity. The proof of true-to-typeness is highly important in ex-situ conservation, because the contamination risk of the woodland grape populations is very high. Some characteristic "sylvestris" simple sequence repeats (SSR) alleles were identified, but they are only characteristic in a specific population. In our recent study, the SSR profiles of 32 woodland grapes were compared to those of 16 European grapevine varieties and 20 rootstocks. Morphology and SSR analyses suggested that the analysed Vitis vinifera ssp. sylvestris Gmelin accessions were true-to-type. In this report, the results of the acid phosphatase isoenzyme analyses of the same woodland grape accessions are presented and a new marker for true-to-typeness is suggested.