KISKUN LTER was established in 1995, together with the Hungarian LTER Network. Its study area is the Kiskunság Sand Ridge and its periphery, 14000 km2 altogether, 17% of the area of Hungary. The primarily sandy area is extremely heterogeneous. It consists of arable lands, planted forests, meadows, abandoned fields, settlements, alkaline lakes, wetlands, and species rich remnants of forest steppe. It is also very varying in time: ploughing and setting aside, extensive plantation of alien trees, drainage, wild fires, biological invasions, and fast demographic movements have been happening in the last 100 years, and beyond all those, the area is particularly sensitive to the climate change.

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General Characteristics, Purpose, History

Site Status:

existing

Year Site Established:

1995

Size :

1 400 000.00ha

Purpose of Site :

KISKUN LTER aims to study the living environment, to detect and monitor its changes, to understand and model the underlying causes and mechanisms, and to use the knowledge acquired to help preserving the biodiversity and associated ecosystem services. The major actor behind the changes is the human being, the the quality of the changed living environment impact the quality of the human life. We study the living environment and its ecological processes embedded into the social and economical environment. Major topics: organization and structure of the sand grassland; climate change simulation field experiment on sand grassland; spontaneous regeneration of vegetation after agricultural field abandonment and fire; recent changes in ecosystem services due to changes of water availability; restoration of high diversity vegetation.

Research Topics:

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Geographic

Coordinates:

Latitude: 46.800000000000
Longitude: 19.383300000000

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Site Details

Ecosystem and Environmental Characteristics

Elevation Range FROM:

96.00msl

Elevation Range TO:

140.00msl

Elevation - Average:

120.00msl

Air Temperature Range (Monthly Minimum) FROM:

-0.43°C

Air Temperature Range (Monthly Maximum) TO :

21.96°C

Air Temperature: Average Annual:

10.77°C

Precipitation Minimum Monthly :

30.20mm

Precipitation Annual :

570.80mm

Precipitation Maximum Monthly :

83.40mm

Biome :

Grasslands

GEO-BON Biome:

Fresh water lakes

Terrestrial

Ecosystem and Land Use:

Agricultural
Forest
Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests
Grasslands
Temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands
Lakes
Small lakes

Biogeographical Region:

Pannonian

Geology:

The parent materiel of Kiskunság is Quaternary sediment of Danube river mostly consists of sand. The surface is Holocene, shaped by wind, resulting in well classified (i.e. coarse) sand.

Hydrology:

The ground water level is higher than the level of the surrounding Danube and Tisza river, most probably because of the communicating vessels effect of the Carpathian Mountains. The ground water is slightly and varyingly alkaline. There are undulating surfaces and sand dune systems, where the depressions might be close to ground water. There are extended areas under ground water effect, as well as a shallow freshwater lake, and plenty of temporarily drying alkaline lakes with surrounding alkaline wetlands. In the 1970s, a regional draining system had been installed, and then the groundwater table level dropped one to eight meters. Many of the former wetlands dried out, and most of the alkaline lakes disappeared in the Kiskunság Sand Ridge, i.e. in the muddle part of the area, while other lakes and wetlands remained at the margins of the ridge.

eLTER Parameters

eLTER Parameters:

Network Affiliation and Network Specific Information

Affiliation:

LTER
eLTER (H2020)
eLTER catalogue
EuroMAB
IUCN National park
Natura 2000
Ramsar

LTER related

LTER Site Code:

LTER_EU_HU_003

LTER Site Classification/Category:

LTSER

Accreditation Status by LTER Member Network:

Accredited formal LTER facility

ExpeER Classification:

Highly Instrumented Observational AND Experimental Site

Protection Status and Resource Management

National park

0 - 25%

Natura 2000 site

0 - 25%

Ramsar site

0 - 25%

Biosphere Reserve

0 - 25%

Management of Resources :

Yes

Management of Resources - Percent of Site:

75 - 100%

Design and Scale of Site

Site Type (Spatial Design):

Platform

Scale of Observation:

beyond catchment

Design of Observation:

mainly observation

Scale of Experiments:

plot scale

Design of Experiments:

partly experimentation

Infrastructure

Accessible All Year :

Yes

All parts of Site Accessible:

Access Type:

dirt road (4WD)

Permanent Power Supply:

Yes

Infrastructure:

Energy and data infrastructure › Data transmission › Data Transmission Type (within site) › Cable based
Energy and data infrastructure › Data transmission › Data Transmission Type (from Site) › Telephone line
Energy and data infrastructure › Data transmission › Data Transmission Type (from Site) › Cable based
Energy and data infrastructure › Energy supply › Permanent Power Supply Location › Central station(s)
Energy and data infrastructure › Energy supply › Permanent Power Produced › 1-5 kW
Supporting infrastructure › Lodging at site › 6 - 10 beds
Supporting infrastructure › Staff room at site › 2 - 5 places
Supporting infrastructure › Transportation › Boat
Supporting infrastructure › Transportation › Vehicle 2WD
Supporting infrastructure › Transportation › Vehicle 4WD
Observation device › Measurement tower › Less than 10 m above canopy
Observation device › Temperature Controlled Container
Data infrastructure › Data storage › Paper
Data infrastructure › Data storage › Structured file
Data infrastructure › Data storage › Proprietary file format
Data infrastructure › Data storage › Spatial data file (GIS)
Data infrastructure › Data services › Other data services

Operation

Operation Notes:

This is a huge, complex site. There are several equipment measuring continuously, and some installation which are checked daily.

Permanent Operation:

Site Visit Interval:

Every 1 days

Maintenance Interval:

Every 1 days

Data Management

General Data Policy:

Co-authorship on publications resulting from use of the dataset

The data provider must be offered co-authorship for publications using this dataset at least within the metadata description

The opportunity to collaborate on the project using the dataset

Data Storage Location :

Distributed over multiple institutions

Data services :

Other data service

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All parts of Site Accessible:

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Operation Notes:

Permanent Operation:

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