The effects of the changing frequency and severity of drought events in Central Europe may become a growing concern for its forests. In this study, we looked into how Hungary’s forests have been affected by the 2022 compound heatwave and drought, following an arid period from 2018 to 2021. We used our active intensive monitoring plots of the Forest Protection Measuring and Monitoring System (Level II in the ICP Forests) across the country between 2017 and 2022. We analyzed satellite images to support a survey of the large-scale drought utilizing moderate and high-resolution data. The health state of the forest calculated and mapped on the NDVI, ZNDVI, and NDWI indices showed damage and regeneration throughout the period studied. Overall, the forest stands observed tolerated the negative impacts of the drought (126–204 mm water deficit in 2022) based on our biomass data (the summer leaf loss was 14% in each monitoring plot). However, the classified Z-NDVI values of the Sentinel-2 satellite imagery for the period 2017–2022 showed a severe drought in 2022, which was followed by some improvement in 2023.

The many publications on forests and moth communities accomplished in different sampling regions and habitat types have produced diverse results and conclusions. The multiplicity of outcomes requires regional or local investigations on forest traits and herbivores to determine optimal management methods to maintain biodiversity and ecological stability in woodlands. Our study focused on sessile oak–hornbeam forests, which are economically and ecologically significant in many European countries. Samplings were performed in 2011–2012 using portable light traps in a highly forested area in western Hungary. We used 16 variables for PCA from the sampling of vascular plants and the local forest management plan document. These newly created variables (i.e., principal components) were related (used generalized linear models) to different groups of sampled moth communities: Macrolepidoptera, Microlepidoptera, and ecological groups (according to the host vegetation layer). Based on these significant relations, thinning activity may have various effects on moth communities, through the changed light regime and microclimate conditions. Temperature growth in the gaps could lead to the increasing abundance of heat-preferred Lepidoptera species; however, the decreasing species richness of trees (as a result of thinning) is less favourable for moth assemblages. Increasing herb coverage supports moth communities in the investigated forest stands, which may also be induced by the lower canopy closure. Besides the increasing coverage in the lower vegetation layers, plant species richness is also an important element for moth communities; this was demonstrated by the negative relation between the PC4, PC6 (weighted toward coverage), and Lepidoptera groups. Our results supported the fact that a single study on forest management practice or on vegetation traits is not sufficient to indicate their exact effect on moth communities, because their influence is complex. In order to halt the loss in diversity of the examined forest type, we suggest an overall approach to define the optimal forest management practice and tree mixture rate, regarding a larger area.

A hazai erdőrezervátumok monitorozása 2005-ben kezdődött, napjainkig közel 40 magterület felmérése történt meg a hosszú távú vizsgálatsorozatok részeként. A Remetekert Erdőrezervátum alapfelmérésére 2022-ben került sor, többek között termőhelyi és faállomány szerkezeti vizsgálatok elvégzésével, amelyet a domborzatmodell megszerkesztésével és a fekvő holtfa mennyiségének felmérésével egészítettünk ki. A vizsgált középkorú, zárt szálerdő elsősorban agyagbemosódásos barna erdőtalajon áll, amelynek tápanyagtartalma megfelelő termőhelyi feltételeket biztosít az állományalkotó dombvidéki bükkös és gyertyános-kocsánytalan tölgyes erdőknek. A terület domináns fafaja a kocsánytalan tölgy volt, emellett magasabb törzsszámban a bükk és a gyertyán fordult elő, átlagos élőfakészletük 556 m3 /ha, állománysűrűségük 762 törzs/ha volt. Az első lombkoronaszintet alkotó fák átlagosan kb. 20 méter magasak, a második lombkoronaszint magassága átlagosan 14 méter körüli. A fekvő holtfa eloszlása egyenlőtlen volt, mennyisége átlagosan 24,8 m3 /ha.

Butterflies inhabiting open forests are declining across Europe, but the knowledge on their population ecology is still limited. The Lopinga achine is an endangered species, occupying open forests that are typically maintained by extensive forest grazing or coppicing. Previous studies on the ecology of L. achine were restricted to certain geographical areas, habitat and management types, thus their conclusions may not be transferred to all parts of Europe. To inform conservation strategies for this species, we investigated populations in non-grazed alluvial forests in western Hungary and gathered demographic and movement data using capture-mark-recapture. We marked 165 butterflies in Alsószölnök and 130 in Szakonyfalu, with more males than females in both populations. Total population sizes were estimated at 311 (95% CI 257–398) in Alsószölnök and 264 (95% CI 196–386) in Szakonyfalu, with 1.43 and 1.11 male ratios, respectively. In Alsószölnök, apparent survival declined over the season, and male recapture probability increased with age. Most individuals moved less than 150 m, but four males dispersed more than 1,000 m between the sites. We obtained robust estimates of population size and survival in L. achine , providing a baseline for future demographic, behavioural, and conservation-management studies. Although population sizes were low compared with other European studies, their national conservation value remains high. Implications for insect conservation: Targeted habitat management should focus on maintaining a semi-open forest structure, we propose bark girdling primarily on non-indigenous tree species. The distance between suitable habitat patches should not exceed 100 m.