Current projects
Dear Visitor! This page is evolving into its final form step-by-step. At the moment you might find it a bit confusing. I am working on it.
The mefa project
I am developing the mefa package for data handling in ecology and biogeography.
Dolina 2007 project
We conducted a field experiment in dolines (karstic depressions) in the Aggtelek Nationa Park, Hungary, in 2007. We aimed to test local adaptation capabilities and relative roles of spatial vs. local factors in shaping richness and composition of land snails and terrestrial isopods. First results of the Dolina 2007 project just appeared, where the mefa package was used to generate the faunistic results section:
- Vilisics, F., Nagy, A., Sólymos, P., Farkas, R., Kemencei, Z. Páll-Gergely, B., Kisfali, M. & Hornung, E. (2008): Data on the terrestrial Isopoda fauna of the Alsó-hegy, Aggtelek National Park, Hungary. Folia Faunistica Slovaca, 13: 9-12. (PDF)
Previous projects
Conservation biogeography of Hungarian land snails
I have just finished the zoogeographical analysis of the Hungarian land snail fauna, and the analysis of biases of large scale data-bases of species distributions.
- Sólymos, P. (in press): Quantitative biogeographic characterization of Hungary based on the distribution data of land snails (Mollusca,Gastropoda): a case of nestedness of species ranges with extensive overlap of biotic elements. Acta zoologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae. (accepted manuscript in PDF)
- Sólymos, P. (2007): Geographic and taxonomic bias in land snail distribution data of Hungary. Community Ecology, 8: 239-246. (ask for reprint)
I am interested in small scale comparative analysis of field inventory methods of invertebrates. We developed a sheet for habitat feature assessment of epigeic macro-invertebrates. We found that estimation of species richness based on a specific sampling method estimates the number of species that is potentially captured by that method, and not necessarily the number of species in the true sampling universe.
- Nagy, A, Sólymos, P. & Rácz, I. A. (2007): A test on the effectiveness and selectivity of three sampling methods frequently used in orthopterological field studies. Entomologica Fennica, 18: 149-159. (PDF)
- Sólymos, P., Czentye, I. & Tutkovics, B. (2007): A comparison of soil sampling and direct search in malacological field inventories. In: Tajovský, K., Schlaghamerský, J. & Pižl, V. (eds.): Contributions to Soil Zoology in Central Europe, II., pp. 161-163. (PDF)
- Vilisics, F., Sólymos, P. & Hornung, E. (2007): A preliminary study on habitat features and associated terrestrial isopod species. In: Tajovský, K., Schlaghamerský, J. & Pižl, V. (eds.): Contributions to Soil Zoology in Central Europe, II., pp. 195-199. (PDF)
We used rarity of species and the proportion of occurrences covered by reserves to prioritize species. We found that most of the Hungarian land snails are well protected, although some cases make exceptions. Thus protection of some species is recommended. We also identified relative responsibility scores of national park directorates in conserving native snail species.
- Sólymos, P., Fehér, Z. & Varga, A (in press): A hazai puhatestüek (Mollusca) élöhely- és fajmegörzési prioritásai. Természetvédelmi Közlemények
- Sólymos, P. (2007): Are current protections of land snails in Hungary relevant to conservation? Biodiversity and Conservation, 16: 347–356. (PDF)
- Sólymos, P., Fehér, Z. & Varga, A. (2006): Mollusc conservation in Hungary: rarity, regionality and responsibility. Tentacle, 14: 13-14.( PDF)
- Sólymos, P. (2004): Magyarország szárazföldi Mollusca-faunájának ritkaságon alapuló értékelése és alkalmazási lehetõségei. Természetvédelmi Közlemények, 11: 349-358. (PDF)
We analysed "hotspots" based on distribution of land snails in Hungary. We found some gaps between our hotspot results and current protected area network. These areas should be considered for protection based on the occurrence of rare species.
- Sólymos, P. & Fehér, Z. (2005): Conservation prioritization using land snail distribution data in Hungary. Conservation Biology, 19: 1084-1094. (PDF, front cover in JPG)
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In the period 1996-2001, I studied faunistics and community ecology of land snails (with T. Deli and others),
the relationship between animal assemblages (gastropoda and orthoptera), microclimate and habitat structure (with A. Nagy).
I analysed the morphometry and geographical variation of the land snail Granaria frumentum (with T. Domokos, Z. Fehér and Z. P. Eröss).
I compared methods for the estimation of paleotemperature in paeoecology (with P. Sümegi),
and I took part in the environmental archeological evaluation of the Bronze Age tell site at Százhalombatta (with Z. Elek and staff at Matrica Museum).
For references, go to my publications.
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