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Most important endangering threats to Kiskunsag's natural habitats are the spread of invasive species. Invaded areas are most often abandoned former pastures and hay meadows, old fields, open sand grasslands, foreststeppe
woodlands and river floodplains including riverine forests.
The most important alien plant species are Acer negundo, Ailanthus altissima, Amorpha fruticosa, Asclepias syriaca, Elaeagnus angustifolia, Fraxinus pennsylvanica, Robinia pseudo-acacia and Solidago spp.
Invasive animal species e.g. spinycheek crayfish (Orconectes limosus), Amur sleeper (Perccottus glenii), harlequin lady beetle (Harmonia axyridis) also cause more and more serious problems adversely affecting native populations.
In the Alpar-meadow KNP unit (where I live) false indigo (Amoroha fruticosa) is the most problematic  invasive plant species. Its first occurance was detected in 1907 in Hungary. Its radical spreading along the Tisza river is associated with the change of traditional floodplain farming. The most significant transforming effect of the expansion of false indigo is on natural treeless or shrubby vegetation in floodplains. By means of its fruits spread by the water during floods, it invades such habitats. If left growing up on hayfields and pastures, it can become monodominant unless treated. Under the dense, impenetrable thicket formed by false indigo growing to several meters high, the species of grassland associations are either incapable of surviving, or only very few of them survive. The habitat becomes unsuitable for the original nesting bird species (e.g. corncrake) as well as for birds of prey hunting in such open areas. The fauna of homogenous false indigo stands is very poor, anyway. Such a thicket is almost impassable for larger mammals (roe deer and red deer). These closed, monodominant false indigo stands in floodplains represent a succession “sink”, a certain type of “green desert”. The fast-growing false indigo slowly replaces natural species in moist shrubby  associations along grasslands, streams, canals, marshes, forests, and in marsh-type willow bushes too.
In Alpar-meadows this species' expansion became serious in the 1970s when the floodplain fields were abandoned and the amount of grazing and foddered livestock dropped. Until the 1990s its spreading was more or less controlled on floodplain farmlands due to the constant land use. After 1998 most of these farmlands became abandoned  after the dyke protecting the fields had been damaged and Alpar meadow turned into open (unprotected) floodplain. In 10 years false indigo conquered huge unmanaged areas. Due to a habitat restoration project of KNP these impenetrable thickets were cleared then grazed by grey cattle. Grazing has become a regular and systematic management technique in this area, which suppressed false indigo successfully, but unfortunatelly only locally.

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One of Hungary’s most characteristic geological areas is the Danube–Tisza Interfluve region where the Kiskunsag National Park (KNP) is located. This national park is of priority importance with regard to conservation of biological diversity in the Pannonian Biogeographical Region. The national park was established in 1975 and has an area of almost 500 km² .  The national park consist of 9 nine separate units. This mosaic-like structure was created as a result of extensive land utilisation.
The main task of the national park is to protect and preserve the most typical features of the landscape with its important natural treasures, geographical formations, waters, flora and fauna, as well as to conduct scientific research. At the same time the KNP thrives to maintain the typical lifestyle of the scattered farmsteads, the traditional animal husbandry of the grasslands and to preserve the ancient Hungarian domestic animal breeding by maintaining gene bank herds.

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The Kiskunsag is a relatively higher, central part of the Danube-Tisza Interfluve, a large Quaternary alluvial fan of the river Danube composed of sand, sandy loess, and in some places loess. The material of alluvial fan was re-deposited several times by fluvial activity, denudation process and wind actions.
The average depth of groundwater table in the area is between 2 and 4 m, with a strong decreasing tendency in the last decades. In the central part of the Danube valley and in the interdunes depressions, groundwater is strongly alkaline.
The undulating surface of the wind-blown sand area has an altitude of 90-140 m above sea level.
The climate of the region is temperate with continental and sub-Mediterranean features.

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The KNP area can be sorted into the following four types of landscapes:
1. The Danube-Valley-alkaline plains and sodic pans on the area formally flooded by the Danube River
2. The Danube–Tisza interfluvial sand dunes, grasslands on sand, remnant forests
3. Parallel with the line of intersection of the Danube-Tisza Interfluve and the Danube valley —within a few kilometres of width, but over a length of 130 kilometres— there is a system of marshland and bogs. The northern part of this is known as Turjánvidék, the southern as Őrjeg.
4. Tisza-valley with floodplain habitats.

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Upper Kiskunsag Sodic Plain is the second largest alkaline plain of Hungary. The formal Danube flood plain is lowland; it lies 90-100 meters above the sea level. Salinisation accelerated after the area had been drained. On these saline territories evolved the so-called alkaline steppes. Alkaline grasslands, pastures, salt and loess ridges form the geological surface and the landscape. Its vegetation consists mainly of halophilic or salt tolerating species, like the pygmy iris and green-winged orchid. An outstanding value of the fauna is the great bustard (Otis tarda), which has its strongest population in Hungary. Other typical species are the redfooted falcon (Falco vespertinus), the stone-curlew (Burhinus oedicnemus), the black-tailed godwit (Limosa limosa) and the common redshank (Tringa totanus).
On areas with a similar geological origin with the alkaline lowlands but at lower elevations sodic pans and alkaline marshes have evolved. Prior to major river regulations the Danube river watered these areas every year, but nowadays the only water source is precipitation. These temporary pans usually dry out by the end of the summer. The high salt content of these wetlands allowed the evolution of a micro-flora and -fauna unique to Central Europe, which forms the base of the so-called sodic breeding bird community. The typical species of this community are the avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta), the black-winged stilt (Himantopus himantopus) and the Kentish plover (Charadrius alexandrinus). The saline marshes give home to the great bittern (Botaurus stellaris), the greylag goose (Anser anser), the marsh harrier  (Circus aeruginosus) as well as to several species of reeddwelling passerines. The ponds in spring and in autumn serve as roosts and feeding grounds for thousands of migrating waterbirds as well. The lakes are surrounded by alkaline grasslands. Grazing has taken place on the various types of sodic grasslands for centuries, but some of them are mown. Hungarian grey cattle, Hungarian pied cattle, and flocks of sheep are at home here. Extensive animal husbandry has not changed the species richness on sodic grasslands, and has contributed to maintaining biodiversity.

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The central and perhaps most characteristic region of the Kiskunság and of the Kiskunság National Park is the Homokhátság in the Danube-Tisza Interfluve.
The sandy areas of the national park are charaterized by open and closed sand grasslands, sand forests, and in some places by remains of forest steppe. In many places acacia, pine trees and poplars were planted, which substantially changed the natural habitats. The agricultural activity by smallholders on farms – beginning in the 19th century – also had a strong impact on the vegetation. The most fertile land – just like today – was the plough lands.
The diverse surfaces of the sand dunes are rich in lime, and give home to valuable vegetation. Typical species are the hairy flax, sand saffron, yellow dwarf iris, red helleborine, long-lasting pink and the wolf peas (Astragallus dasyanthus). The insect world is very rich in special species like the predatory bush cricket and other grasshopper species. The most famous part, Bugac, is internationally well known as it has been a tourist destination already since the 1930s. The animal husbandry traditions on the puszta serve the maintenance of the gene-bank of the ancient domestic breeds as well as the needs of tourism.

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Until the regulation of Tisza river in the second half of the 19th century  the overwhelming part of the Great Hungarian Plain belonged to the inundation area of the Tisza and its tributaries. The water once used to stand for months in the vast expanses of low-lying marshland, providing the abundant birdlife with food and habitat.  As a consequence of the river regulation floodplains have almost dissapeared. Lowland riparian forests and meadows have begun drying out, and the once rich biodiversity of floodplains has decreased. As the land dried, its use changed too: extensive use of meadow and pastureland has given way to intensive arable farming.
The Tisza-valley's now largest floodplain is the smallest unit of Kiskunsag NP. It preserves remnants of the once-glorious landscape with oxbow lakes, marshes, reedbeds, willow shrubs, swamp woodlands and meadows providing important habitats for a wide range of plants and animals.
Botanically, oxbow lakes and marshes are of significant values. These habitats host a number of protected plants like water chestnut (Trapa natans),  white waterlily (Nymphaea alba), yellow water lily (Nuphar luteum), featherfoil (Hottonia palustris).

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A large-scale transformation of the hydrogeological features of the Great Hungarian Plain was initiated in the 19th century, by the river regulation and flood prevention activities and then continued with monumental flatland drainage  projects of inland water control and melioration programs in the 20th century. A significant proportion of the wetland habitats (soda pans, salt marshes, temporary wetlands and floodplains) have perished irreversibly. Water regulation has had long-term consequnces that adversly affect remnants of natural wetlands.

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In addition to the drying effects of water regulation, increased water deficiency caused by global warming as well as extreme distribution of rainfall. As a conseqence of these two factors (water regulation and drought),  ground water level decreased (up to 8 m) since the 1980s, that threatens lowland wetlands and lowland forest habitats and fosters the succession of oxbow lakes in
the floodplain of large alluvial rivers.

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Abandonment of extensive, traditional practices (grazing, mowing) affected and still threatens those habitats that rely on regular extensive management e.g. natural and semi-natural steppes, species-rich hay meadows, marshes and woodpastures. Cessation of management also led to the acceleration of invasion by non-native species.

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Habitat loss in the Danube-Tisza Interfluve

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Habitat loss in the Danube-Tisza Interfluve

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The extension of those habitats on the Danube–Tisza Interfluve that were not under cultivation in the 1980s has decreased drastically, by 40,074 ha (approx. 15%). The main reasons for grassland devastations are ploughing, afforestation, the invasion of shrubs and trees, the building in activity and the establishment of open water surfaces. The most serious decline in the recent past was observed in the case of fen vegetation: the decrease of its extension was estimated to be 10–11%. More than half of the habitats disappeared as a result of ploughing and grassland-devastation due to urbanisation (building in, development of infrastructure, etc.) was covered by fen vegetation, while about a quarter of them consisted of alkali habitats. Sand areas mostly decline because of the spontaneous invasion of alien species and afforestation, which led to the devastation of approx. 4% of the natural and disturbed sand vegetation.  Astonishing is the fact that the total extension of the more-or-less disturbed or devastated habitats altogether comprise roughly half (49%) of the actually mapped vegetation patches of the Interfluve (137,908 ha). By summing up the areas of the most frequent habitat types of the vegetation subregions, it became evident that the grasslands, ploughed in the past 15 years, are among the first five most spacious habitat types in all subregions.

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The wolves were brought in because the increased elk population was overgrazing the deciduous, woody species such as aspen and cottonwood.

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1. Ixodes ricinus, the most common tick species in Europe has more than 300 hosts (mammals and birds).
2. Armillaria mellea or honey mushroom is parasitic on the wood of hardwoods spreading through wood, and from tree to tree, by means of long black rhizomorphs.

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1. White-tailed eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) and Crucian carp (Carassius carassiua)
White-tailed eagles are versatile and opportunistic hunters and carrion feeders, sometimes pirating food from other birds and even otters. They eat largely fish, but also take various birds, rabbits and hares. When fishing, they fly low over water, stop to hover for a moment and drop to snatch fish from the surface.
2.  Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra) and European carp (Cyprinus carpio)
Otters are voracious fish eaters, with fish making up over 80% of their diet.

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1. Next to the village where I live (Tiszaalpar) there is a shallow lake, which is part of the Kiskunsag National Park. It is a Ramsar site where hundreds of herons and egrets can be observed. These species share the same habitat and all of them are piscivores. They though can coexist without severe competion, because herons have specialized in their choice of habitat, in their methods of foraging, in the size of the prey they hunt and in the time of day or night during which they hunt. Grey Heron, Little Egret and Great White Egret forage in open habitat but tolerate some emergent aquatic vegetation. Night Heron forage hidden in the dense vegetation. Bitterns and Purple Herons use reed bed, which is the densest biotope in wetlands. The Night Heron is the only true nocturnal heron foraging only after dark, the others hunt only in the daytime. The size of fish they catch are different, too. The largest, the Grey Heron takes the largest prey. The Purple Heron and the Great White Egret take slightly smaller prey. The Little Egret specializes in very small prey taken in large numbers. Since these items can be very swift, Little Egrets must be very active feeders to get enough food. It has a different foraging method than the other species. While most herons use mainly Stand-and-wait and Walking-slowly strategies, Little Egrets often forage together walking, Foot-stirring and sometimes running with open wings.
2. Woodpeckers are incestivorous birds capable of undersurface feeding. Dendrocopos major, Dendrocopos minor, Dryocopus martius and Picus viridis are the most abundant woodpecker species in the riverine forests in KNP. These species differ in foraging location, feeding strategy, substrate type and preference for snags.
The heights at which woodpecker species forage are different. D. major and minor are often high in trees, while D. martius is mainly lower. P. viridis often can be seen on the ground. With regard to tree portion, D. martius is the most specialized on trunks. D. minor forages mainly on branches. There is clear relationship between morphological characters (bill length and body weight) and prey size.

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The ecological niche of two characteristic animals

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The ecological niche of two characteristic animals

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I think it's impossible to describe a species' niche, since 'niche' is a very compound and abstract concept. Who could collect each biotic and abiotic factor that influences a species? So I try to gather some environmental needs of two species.

The Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber L.) is semi-aquatic plant eating mammal.  Beavers use a variety of freshwater systems, including rivers, streams, irrigation ditches, lakes, and swamps. They generally prefer freshwater habitats surrounded by woodland, but may occur in agricultural land or even suburban and urban areas. Beavers require access to water with sufficient depth to allow the construction of a winter food cache and to ensure that the entrance to their lodge or burrow remains underwater.
On low gradient, small streams of first to fourth order, beavers frequently build dams to create impoundments. The lodge, in which the family group or colony shelter and rear their young, is built on the bank or on an island in the impoundment. A cache of twigs and branches is prepared adjacent to the lodge to supply winter food.  Beavers may alter the riparian landscape considerably. Flooding, as a result of damming activities, kills most woody species and creates wetlands.

Quercus robur, commonly known as common oak or English oak,  native to most of Europe and west of the Caucasus. Quercus robur is very tolerant to soil conditions but it prefers fertile and well-watered soils. Mature trees tolerate flooding. Young plants tolerate reasonable levels of side shade.

Within its native range Q. robur is valued for its importance to insects and other wildlife. Numerous insects live on the leaves, buds, and in the acorns. Q. robur supports the highest biodiversity of insect herbivores of any Hungarian plant. The acorns form a valuable food resource for several small mammals and some birds, notably Eurasian jay Garrulus glandarius.

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There is a natural duality present in the area in terms of habitats. There are forests, mostly of oak in the lower areas, whereas the higher elevation areas are covered with dry steppe vegetation. The mosaic of these is the forest steppe, which is typical of our Great Plain. The lower areas are different, as they were once floodplains. Alder-ash forests are present there, as well as tall sedge and tussock, mesic and drying-up fens at a slightly higher elevation. “Turjános” is this wetland vegetation, which gave the name to the whole area.

There are almost 550 plant taxa observed here, which is almost half of the flora of the Danube-Tisza interfluve. Due to this large number of species, the area belongs to the species-rich areas of the Danube-Tisza interfluve. Many of them are endemic or sub-endemic.
It is important to emphasise that the Hungarian meadow viper is known to be living here on the shooting range, as well as the Great Bustard, and the largest Hungarian populations of the Sand iris and the Hungarian ground beetle. There are 2 out of the three natural populations of the highly protected Giant plantain in the shooting range.
Fens and sand steppes are the most important habitats from a botanical point of view. Rare and protected species can be found here in the largest numbers, for example more than 10 orchid species.

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http://knp.nemzetipark.gov.hu/index.php?pg=menu_199

http://www.termeszetvedelem.hu/_user/browser/File/UNESCO/Elorehaladasi_jelentesek/Kiskunsag%20biosphere%20reserve%20%20progress%20report%202017.pdf

http://turjanvidek.hu/?/project_area/wildlife

https://books.google.hu/books/about/The_Herons_of_Europe.html?id=wKZRkGnJ9C0C&redir_esc=y

https://martinezbeavers.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Collen-Gibson-beaver-dams-fish-review-20011.pdf

https://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/33239835/Abot50_1_2_2vegleges.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAIWOWYYGZ2Y53UL3A&Expires=1549908739&Signature=UPu9e63rtg0RxGDyu%2F9hAuRKTpc%3D&response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename%3DRegional_habitat_pattern_of_the_Danube-T.pdf

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Zoltan_Botta-Dukat/publication/311796497_The_most_important_invasive_plants_in_Hungary/links/585ae02b08ae329d61f1480f/The-most-important-invasive-plants-in-Hungary.pdf

http://earthsendangered.com/index.asp

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European mudminnow (Umbra krameri)
Europian roller (Coracias garrulus)
Ferruginous duck (Aythya nyroca)
Great bustard (Otis tarda)
Eurasian curlew (Numenius arquata)
Cucujus cinnaberinus
Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra)
Ground squirrel (Spermophilus citellus)
Meadow viper (Vipera ursinii)
Predatory Bush Cricket (Saga pedo)
Wild common carp (Cyprinus carpio)
Giant noctule bat (Nyctalus lasiopterus)