Lake Balaton Research Articles

“Minor” Aquileian Families Between Noricum and Pannonia

SummaryThe paper deals with the presence of North-eastern Italic families in Northern Pannonia. Through a selection of the epigraphic texts based on the information provided by the texts and the chronology, it is possible to investigate the spreading of Italic traders’ families from Italy, Noricum and Emona to the cities on the north tract of the “Amber Route” and the Balaton Lake area.

Does Lake Balaton affected by pollution? Assessment through surface water quality monitoring by using different assessment methods.

In order to maintain a good environmental status of surface waters, an assessment of water quality carried out at specific intervals to monitor the changes of water quality in function of time. Human knowledge and experience are currently focused on using assessment methods, especially the integration of multiple constraining factors and considering them in conjugation with the correct decision-making process concerning the environment. When surface water is highly exposed to human activities, either from recreational or economic activity, the degree of vulnerability is high, and the quality of surface water is highly compromised. In case of Lake Balaton, there are many activities that can disrupt water dynamics. The first goal of this study is to determine the location of the least and most polluted sites around Lake Balaton. The processing of data was carried out by using multi-criteria decision techniques and environmental impact assessment method based on physical–chemical parameters in comparison with the limiting parameters. Based on the results of those methods water quality needs to be improved in western parts of the lake by using several geoengineering treatment techniques. This work covers a novel approach to comparing methods based on sum of ranking differences, whereas many method comparison studies suffer from ambiguity or from comparisons not being quite fair. This problem can be avoided if there are differences between ideal and actual rankings.

Quantifying 3D vegetation structure in wetlands using differently measured airborne laser scanning data

Mapping and quantifying 3D vegetation structure is essential for assessing and monitoring ecosystem structure and function within wetlands. Airborne Laser Scanning (ALS) is a promising data source for developing indicators of 3D vegetation structure, but derived metrics are often not compared with 3D structural field measurements and the acquisition of ALS data is rarely standardized across different remote sensing surveys. Here, we compare a set of Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR) metrics derived from ALS datasets with varying characteristics to a standardized set of field measurements of vegetation height, biomass and Leaf Area Index (LAI) across three Hungarian lakes (Lake Balaton, Lake Fertő and Lake Tisza). The ALS datasets differed in whether the recording type was full waveform (FWF) or discrete return, and in their point density (4 pt/m2 and 21 pt/m2). A total of eight LiDAR metrics captured radiometric information as well as descriptors of vegetation cover, height and vertical variability. Multivariate regression models with field-based measurements of vegetation height, biomass or LAI as response variable and LiDAR metrics as predictors showed major differences between ALS recording types, and were affected by differences in spatial resolution, temporal offset and seasonality between field and ALS data acquisition. Vegetation height could be estimated with high to intermediate accuracy (FWF ALS data only: R2 = 0.84; combination of ALS datasets: R2 = 0.67), demonstrating its potential as a robust indicator of 3D vegetation structure across different ALS datasets. In contrast, the estimation of biomass and LAI in these wetlands was sensitive to variation in ALS characteristics and to the discrepancies between field and ALS data in terms of spatial resolution, temporal offset and seasonality (biomass: R2 = 0.20–0.22; LAI: R2 = 0.08–0.30). We recommend the use of FWF ALS data within wetlands because it captures more vegetation structural details in dense reed and marshland vegetation. We further suggest that ecologists and remote sensing scientist should better coordinate the simultaneous and standardized acquisition of field and ALS data for testing the robustness of quantitative descriptors of vegetation cover, height and vertical variability within wetlands. This is important for establishing operational and spatially contiguous ALS-based indicators of 3D ecosystem structure across wetlands.

Does the Kis-Balaton Water Protection System (KBWPS) Effectively Safeguard Lake Balaton from Toxic Cyanobacterial Blooms?

Lake Balaton is the largest shallow lake in Central Europe. Its water quality is affected by its biggest inflow, the Zala River. During late 20th century, a wetland area named the Kis-Balaton Water Protection System (KBWPS) was constructed in the hopes that it would act as a filter zone and thus ameliorate the water quality of Lake Balaton. The aim of the present study was to test whether the KBWPS effectively safeguards Lake Balaton against toxic cyanobacterial blooms. During April, May, July and September 2018, severe cyanobacterial blooming was observed in the KBWPS with numbers reaching up to 13 million cells/mL at the peak of the bloom (July 2018). MC- and STX-coding genes were detected in the cyanobacterial biomass. Five out of nine tested microcystin congeners were detected at the peak of the bloom with the concentrations of MC-LR reaching 1.29 µg/L; however, accumulation of MCs was not detected in fish tissues. Histopathological analyses displayed severe hepatopancreas, kidney and gill alterations in fish obtained throughout the investigated period. In Lake Balaton, on the other hand, cyanobacterial numbers were much lower; more than 400-fold fewer cells/mL were detected during June 2018 and cyanotoxins were not detected in the water. Hepatic, kidney and gill tissue displayed few alterations and resembled the structure of control fish. We can conclude that the KBWPS acts as a significant buffering zone, thus protecting the water quality of Lake Balaton. However, as MC- and STX-coding genes in the cyanobacterial biomass were detected at both sites, regular monitoring of this valuable ecosystem for the presence of cyanobacteria and cyanotoxins is of paramount importance.

Migration of Late Miocene to Quaternary alkaline magmatism at the Alpine-Pannonian transition area: Significance for coupling of Adria plate motion with the Alpine-Carpathian front

Within-plate migration of alkaline basaltic centers is generally related to translation of the lithosphere with a hot spot above a largely stationary mantle plume. Here, we report, for the first time, a hitherto unrecognized migration of small-sized Late Miocene to Early Quaternary alkali-basaltic volcanic centers at the transition from Eastern Alps to Pannonian Basin. The volcanic centers migrated along the South Burgenland High in a regular sequence over a 95 km distance from NNE to SSW between 11 Ma and 1.7 Ma. The basaltic magmatism was also associated with thinning of the crust and lithosphere and an increase of the thermal gradient. In detail, three stages of migration are recognized as follows: (i) Stage 1 with a 55 km SSW-towards shift of volcanism between 11 and 5 Ma; (ii) Stage 2 with a ~ 35 km-WSW shift and enlargement of the distribution of volcanic centers between ca. 5 and 3.5 Ma; and (iii) Stage 3 with a S-directed shift of ca. 25 km between 3.5 and 1.7 Ma. The Stage 1 shift of alkali-basaltic volcanism can be also observed in the Little Hungarian Plain and South Slovakia–Nógrád volcanic fields, and the Stage 2 in the Balaton-Bakony of the Pannonian Basin (north of Lake Balaton). We propose that this pattern and mechanism of migration of the volcanic centers along the South Burgenland High resulted from thermally induced progressive thinning of the lithosphere over a mantle plume underneath the ALCAPA block, which was moving from SSW to the NNE between 11 and 1.7 Ma. The migration was interrupted by a marked eastward shift between 5 and 3.5 Ma (Stage 2). The migration of volcanic centers correlates with orientation and timing of regional shortening phases and inversion of the Alpine-Carpathian-Pannonian system although the overall amount of shortening remains uncertain. The deformation events allow to correlate Adria motion with deformation along the frontal parts of Eastern Alps, and Western and Eastern Carpathians across the western Pannonian Basin.

New data on Thelohanellus nikolskii Achmerov, 1955 (Myxosporea, Myxobolidae) a parasite of the common carp (Cyprinus carpio, L.): The actinospore stage, intrapiscine tissue preference and molecular sequence.

Thelohanellus nikolskii, Achmerov, 1955 is a well-known myxozoan parasite of the common carp (Cyprinus carpio L.). Infection regularly manifests in numerous macroscopic cysts on the fins of two to three month-old pond-cultured carp fingerlings in July and August. However, a Thelohanellus infection is also common on the scales of two to three year-old common carp in ponds and natural waters in May and June. Based on myxospore morphology and tissue specificity, infection at both sites seems to be caused by the same species, namely T. nikolskii. This presumption was tested with molecular biological methods: SSU rDNA sequences of myxospores from fins of fingerlings and scales of older common carp were analysed and compared with each other and with related species available in GenBank. Sequence data revealed that the spores from the fins and scales represent the same species, T. nikolskii. Our study revealed a dichotomy in both infection site and time in T. nikolskii-infections: the fins of young carp are infected in Summer and Autumn, whereas the scales of older carp are infected in Spring. Myxosporean development of the species is well studied, little is known, however about the actinosporean stage of T. nikolskii. A previous experimental study suggests that aurantiactinomyxon actinospores of this species develop in Tubifex tubifex, Müller, 1774. The description included spore morphology but no genetic sequence data (Székely et al., 1998). We examined >9000 oligochaetes from Lake Balaton and Kis-Balaton Water Reservoire searching for the intraoligochaete developmental stage of myxozoans. Five oligochaete species were examined, Isochaetides michaelseni Lastochin, 1936, Branchiura sowerbyi Beddard, 1892, Nais sp., Müller, 1774, Dero sp. Müller, 1774 and Aelosoma sp. Ehrenberg, 1828. Morphometrics and SSU rDNA sequences were obtained for the released actinospores. Among them, from a single Nais sp., the sequence of an aurantiactinomyxon isolate corresponded to the myxospore sequences of T. nikolskii.

Red mud with other waste materials as artificial soil substitute and its effect on Sinapis alba

Despite efforts to utilise bauxite residue, the amount of red mud stored in reservoirs is increasing. This paper aims to evaluate the potential of red mud and other sludge waste types as a soil substitute by monitoring plant development. Pot experiments were carried out testing two types of mixtures: dredging sludge from Lake Balaton mixed with garden soil and the sewage sludge and soil blend. These were then treated with red mud (15 and 30% w/w). The plants were under-, while the roots were more developed in the sewage sludge mix than the dredging sludge blend and the control soil. In the sewage amendment, the phosphorous content increased while the calcium content was lower than in the other soil types and the optimum. The metals uptake of the plants was a factor of the red mud quantity. Lead, nickel, titanium and silicon had elevated concentrations parallel to higher red mud content, but only the nickel exceeded the threshold of the Hungarian legislation. Silicon and titanium were beneficial for plant growth, compensating for the potentially toxic effects of lead and nickel. Results suggest that the red mud in a mixture with either sewage sludge or dredging sludge can act as catalysts for the growth rate of test plants, allowing their utilisation as secondary raw materials.

Evaluation of Quality of Life and Living Space in the Balaton Destination (Hungary) Based on the Perceptions of the Local Residents and the Owners of Second Homes

Abstract The study aims to reveal the evaluation of quality of life (QOL) factors of the local residents and the owners of the second homes from a regional perspective. As a case study we analyse the second most important tourism destination of Hungary, Lake Balaton in terms of evaluation of quality of life and living space within the scope of three target groups, two groups of local residents (who live there and work there, and who live there but work elsewhere) and the owners of second homes. The authors believe that the understanding of the decisive factors of quality of life and living space is becoming increasingly important in the successful management of local governments and in the field of sustainable tourism development and tourism management as well. The authors also intend to detect and understand the differences between the target groups. One of the most important results of the article is the creation of an aggregated settlement quality of life (QOL) indicator. The research observes both objective and subjective factors based on a primary questionnaire survey conducted in 2018 resulting from a sample of 844 respondents. The results are interpreted with crosstab, correlation and variance analysis.

Effects of recreational beaches on chironomid assemblages in a large, shallow lake

The recreational use of water bodies presents new challenges and pressures on lake ecosystems. We focused on how recreational beaches influence the shoreline biodiversity of Lake Balaton, Hungary. Taking into account the establishment of beaches, we examined natural reed vegetated shorelines (representing natural situation), open areas (representing areas, where reed has been removed), as well as beaches. We assessed the abiotic parameters as well as the chironomid assemblages of these habitats. We found that the transformation of reeds through open habitats to beaches is associated with multiple changes in environmental properties and with a decrease in habitat heterogeneity. We observed that the transformation of reeds to beaches caused an 18% reduction in chironomid taxa richness and a moderate drop in their abundance. This reduction can be explained by the removal of reeds, because this action transforms a productive system to an unproductive one, and by the assumed dependence of chironomid richness and abundance to the organic-matter content of the sediment. Our analyses showed that the composition of chironomids was sensitive to the transformation of the habitats, and to the natural differences in the northern and southern shorelines of the lake. These findings suggest that the establishment and use of recreational beaches had a negative effect on local biodiversity. Although beaches can promote diversified societal and economic benefits, our results show that they can also generate conservation issues related to biodiversity loss. Consequently, action plans focusing on the maintenance and the establishment of recreational beaches should carefully consider both economic and conservation aspects.

European inland waters : The history of seafaring, shipping, and shipyards at the Lake Balaton

Maritime history and development of waterways is often perceived as a mostly marine issue including activities linked directly to the oceans and seas and their coastal zones. However, inland waters and waterways constitute an important landscape-forming factor in terms of transport, wetland formation, watercourse regulations and flood prevention, agriculture, forestry, fishery, settlement structures, tourism and a number of related services. Lake Balaton in western Hungary is a unique environment regarding its geology, biodiversity, water resources (including springs and thermal waters) and rich cultural heritage. Inland navigation has greatly contributed to the development of settlement structures and trades in the region already from Roman times, but only with the appearance of steamboats and the internationally renowned shipyards the shipping of goods and personal transport reached a larger volume. Since Lake Balaton is a shallow lake, producing ships (both sailing boats and larger vessels) was a technical challenge. The largest shipyard around the lake was in the town of Balatonfüred with some ancillary facilities in Siófok. With the continuous development of railway traffic first on the southern and later on the northern shore successively replaced the goods transport on the lake and changed the system of its water level control through the Sió-channel. In this study, we analyse the development of inland navigation on lake Balaton and its influence on trade and settlement structures and cultural heritage in the region, the connections to international inland waterways through the Sió canal and the River Danube and the changes of ship building industry during history. The article is based on a number of studies on the history of Lake Balaton and a specific focus is put on the industrial era and how international influences have been instrumental in this development.

A gróf Hunyady család szerepe a balatoni turizmus létrejöttében

Lakeside tourism on the southern shore of Lake Balaton came to life in the 1880s. High water levels of Lake Balaton and swamps near the lake have prohibited the growth of tourism. The construction of the railway (1861) and the Sio flood gate (1863) gave opportunities for a step forward. Large estate owners around the southern shores played a major role in the development of tourism. In this study we examine the beginnings. Count Imre Hunyady, owner of the estate of Kethely and Balatonszemes was the first one who built a summer house in Balatonbereny and a nice park next to it. Count Hunyady played an active role in the development of Bereny and Szemes too. He subdivided the lands on the shores in order to have villas built on them. He also had a port constructed for his own steam boat in Balatonbereny and it was used as an excursion ship to attract paying customers. He also had trees planted on the shores. As a result of his efforts a significant resort came to life in the villages in just two decades which attracted many entrepreneurs. Hotels, inns, restaurants and pensions were built on the shores. Most of the customers arrived from Budapest, Marcali and Nagykanizsa. For the rural peasant communities hosting guests was a new source of income. The development of tourism required more supplies. Vegetable farms belonging to the Count’s estates supplied fruits and vegetables, the butchery of the estate provided the meat and wine came from the vineries of the Count too. A great step ahead was the foundation of civil bathing associations which managed these settlements in the beginning of the twentieth century.

Önkormányzati válságkezelés a Balaton Kiemelt Üdülőkörzetben, a COVID-19-járvány első hullámában

The Covid-19 pandemic generated globally an unfamiliar crisis situation for the present so-cio-economical systems. Social and policy challenges related to the pandemic, however, are variable due to local and regional specifics. Specifics may be identified and modeled extensively in a functional and more or less natural region like the Lake Balaton Resort Area. This region pulled through the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic as the second touristic destination of Hungary. Due to the measures of the central government concerning the budgets and jurisdictions of local governments, municipalities had a significant role during the preventing actions against the pandemic. While budgetary cuts hit them, local governments stepped forward as local crisis managers. Examinations based on statistical data of territorial impacts of the pandemic was beyond their possibilities due to incomplete territorial references. Therefore our research on territorial and local governmental impacts of the first wave of the pandemic in the Lake Balaton Resort Area was based on a questionnaire conducted with mayors from the region. The following study presents the results of the questionnaire, demonstrates the regional specifics of the pandemic, the particular role of local governments, and summarizes the useful conclusions for upcoming challenges. © 2021

Chalcogen-Transfer Rearrangement: Exploring Inter- versus Intramolecular P-P Bond Activation.

Invited for the cover of this issue are Rudolf Pietschnig and co-workers at the University of Kassel and Zsolt Kelemen at Budapest University of Technology and Economics. The image depicts Selene, the goddess of the moon in ancient Greek mythology, and the cycle of chalcogen-transfer rearrangement in the starry sky over the hills of the mountainous region of the northern shore of Lake Balaton (Mts. Badacsony and Gulács) in Hungary. Read the full text of the article at 10.1002/chem.202002481.

Stochastic simulation of phytoplankton biomass using eighteen years of daily data - predictability of phytoplankton growth in a large, shallow lake

During the past decades, on-line monitoring of freshwater lakes has developed rapidly. To use high frequency time-series in lake management, novel models are needed that are simple and provide insight into the complexity of phytoplankton dynamics. Chlorophyll a (Chl), a proxy for phytoplankton biomass and environmental drivers were monitored on-line in large, shallow Lake Balaton during the vegetation periods between 2001 and 2018. Growth and non-growth (G and non-G) states of algae were deduced from daily change in Chl. Random forests (RF) were used to find stochastic response rules of phytoplankton to growth-supporting environmental habitat templates. The stochastic G/non-G state was translated into long-term daily biomass dynamics by a deterministic biomass model to assess uncertainty and to distinguish between inevitable and unpredictable blooms. A biomass peak was qualified as inevitable or unpredictable if the lower 95% confidence limit of simulations exceeded or remained at the baseline Chl level, respectively. Compared to a stochastic null model based on monthly Markovian transition probabilities, RF-based models captured wax and wane of biomass realistically. Timing of peaks could be better simulated than their magnitude, likely because habitat templates were primarily determined by light whereas peak sizes might depend on unmeasured processes, such as phosphorus availability. In general, algal growth was favored by wind-induced sediment resuspension that decreased light availability but simultaneously enhanced the P supply. Seasonal temperature and an integral of departures from the “normal” seasonal temperature over 2 to 3 generations were important drivers of phytoplankton growth, whereas short-term (diel and day to day) changes in water temperature appeared to be irrelevant. Four types of years could be distinguished during the study period with respect to algal growth conditions. The present modeling approach can reasonably be used even in highly variable aquatic environments when 3 to 4 years of daily data are available.

Kánaán és Mars-mező

Mihály Fazekas had the chance to get to know several layers of Hungarian popular poetry in the Reformed College in Debrecen, as well as during his soldier years and in the end after he returned to his homeland. Although his popular poems are not as complex as the songs of the contemporary poets, Ádám Pálóczi Horváth and Mihály Csokonai Vitéz, in a few cases it is clear that he was inspired by one or more popular songs, and he wrote his poems following these models or launching a dialogue with them. The study tries to explore the background of the most famous two poems of Fazekas. The source and prefiguration of Hortobágyi dal ’Hortobágy Song’ (’O blessed Canaan’) was a drinking song with similar open formulas which was very popular until 1800 in Debrecen, as well as in Transdanubia, paraphrased to the region of lake Balaton. A little detail of the Hortobágy Song was torn off from the text by Fazekas and spread as an anonymous popular song after 1820 (just in the life of the author!) as Betyár Dal ’Outlaw Song’. Its English translation was published in the anthology of John Bowring (Poetry of the Magyars, London, 1830). The other poem, the Katonai búcsúének ’Military Farewell Song’ (‘Armies, who often sweat in the workshop of Mars, on the battlefield’) was written after Fazekas was promoted to lieutenant in 1796 and he disarmed unexpectedly. He bids farewell to the excruciating soldier life, which although promises the palm branch of victory, and imitates the rhythm and melody of the contemporary Hungarian marches, in a way writing a counter-song to the tune of trumpets.

Automated batch settling column with vibrated rods and evaluation protocol for living waters mud thickening

Gravity solid-liquid phase separation is applied in minerals industries, waste water treatment, filtration, sewage, drinking water, ocean (water) engineering, dredging, environment and biotechnology. The healthy nation of freshwaters like Lake Balaton and River Bodrog can be maintained by regular mud dredging. The on-water pure mechanical mud thickening would be a really beneficial technology. A new automated batch settling column with vibrated rods had been developed and fundamental tests had been carried out with model materials (glass sand) and muds (Siofok, Tihany, Tokaj). A numerical evaluation protocol with spline interpolation and derivation had been developed by with simple key parameters were determined. Results can be used for the design of a new type of thickener called the rod-lamella thickener.

First genetically verified occurrence of Ligula pavlovskii outside its native range and characteristics of its infection in Neogobius fluviatilis

In this study, we provide the first genetically verified distribution record beyond its native range of Ligula pavlovskii, a high-impact endoparasite of Ponto-Caspian gobies. According to parasitological surveys, ligulosis was detected for the first time in monkey goby individuals collected from Lake Balaton in 2004, 34 years after the first record of monkey goby in the lake. During a Lake Balaton survey in 2018, we detected tapeworms in 44.4% of the sampled monkey gobies. This prevalence is about two to ten times higher than it was reported from within the native range of the fish hosts. The same survey revealed an uneven spatial distribution of the ligulosis in the monkey gobies inhabiting different shoreline sections of the lake. We assume that the occurrence and recent distribution data of this high-impact endoparasite may provide useful information for potential biocontrol measures of invasive Ponto-Caspian gobies in the future.

Planktonic and Benthic Bacterial Communities of the Largest Central European Shallow Lake, Lake Balaton and Its Main Inflow Zala River

Lake Balaton is the largest European shallow lake, which underwent cultural eutrophication in the ‘70–80s. Therefore, strict pollution control measures were introduced and the water quality has become meso-eutrophic since the millennium. Due to the touristic significance and change in trophic levels of the lake, numerous ecological studies were carried out, but none of them was focused on both benthic and planktonic microbial communities at the same time. In our study, an attempt was made to reveal the spatial bacterial heterogeneity of the Lake Balaton and Zala River by 16S rDNA terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism fingerprinting and Illumina amplicon sequencing methods in the summer of 2017. According to the molecular biology results, mostly well-known freshwater microorganisms, adapted to nutrient-poor conditions were found in the pelagic water column. The LD12 subclade member Fonsibacter ubiquis, the cyanobacterial Synechococcus sp. and unknown Verrucomicrobia species were abundant in the less nutrient-dense basins, while the hgcI clade members showed various distribution. In the estuary and in the nutrient-dense western part of the lake, some eutrophic conditions preferring cyanobacteria (filamentous Anabaena and Aphanizomenon species) were also detectable. The benthic microbial community showed higher diversity, according to the observed appearance of microorganisms adapted to the deeper, less aerated layers (e.g. members of Desulfobacteraceae, Nitrosomonadaceae).

Great Expectations and Interwar Realities: Hungarian Cultural Diplomacy, 1918–1941

Great Expectations and Interwar Realities: Hungarian Cultural Diplomacy, 1918–1941

Agnes Heller: A Philosopher for Today

ABSTRACT On 19 July 2019, Agnes Heller died whilst swimming in Lake Balaton outside Budapest. With her passing, the culture of humanity lost one of its most remarkable representatives. So too, contemporary critique lost a philosophical sensibility that is, today, within the neoliberal university, increasingly rare. It is this philosophical sensibility with which this essay is concerned. Through a critical reconstruction of Heller’s reading of three key figures from the philosophical tradition (Marx, Pascal and Kierkegaard), this essay both charts the changes and continuities in Heller’s philosophy of concrete subjectivity and makes a case for its continuing relevance to the cultural project of philosophy.