Dr Csongor I. Gedeon

Biography

• Conservation ecologist (professional naturalist) interested in studying the population dynamics of burrowing mammals and developing novel, non-destructive estimation methods of their abundance or soil mixing, burrowing by combining proximal sensing and statistical tools. His research has particular emphasis on using research results in on-the-ground conservation of endangered burrowing mammals, such as ground squirrels or mole-rats. Proximal sensing tools and methods include UAV and GPR combined with deep or statistical learning methods.

• Thesis and course, Soil Fauna Ecology, announcer at the Doctorate School of Environmental Sciences at Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest (open for candidates, see details at ELTE’s webpage).

• He has gained experience in nature conservation as a national park state ranger (wildlife manager and game warden) and later in academics as a researcher conducting research at Northern Arizona University (2004/05), University of Vienna (2005/2006), Kyoto University (2014-2014), and Dickinson State University (2018). He has an active collaboration with Franz Suchentrunk (Research Institute of Wildlife Ecology, Veterinary University of Vienna). Fulbright, ÖAD, JSPS, ESF grants or scholarships have provided support of those researh studies. In 2023/24, he was a Fulbright SIR at the University of Dubuque teaching Soil Fauna Ecology for undergraduates. In 2025, he was able to collaborate with Professor Ferdinand Bego, University of Tirana (Western Balkan/ Visegrad 4 grant) surveying mole-rat colonies in the mountainous areas of Albania, and Ben Swallow, University of St. Andrews, spatial modelling/ mapping of mole-rat burrows (Royal Society of Edinburgh, Bilateral Exchange Programme, research award).

• CV
• Biography
• ORCID
• ResearchGate
• Google Scholar

Research Interests (last 5 years)

• Conservation ecologist interested in studying the population dynamics of burrowing mammals and developing novel, non-destructive estimation methods of their abundance or soil mixing, burrowing acitivity by combining proximal sensing and statistical tools. His research has particular emphasis on using research results in on-the-ground conservation of endangered burrowing mammals, such as ground squirrels or mole-rats. Proximal sensing tools and methods include UAV and GPR combined with deep or statistical learning methods.

Publications

Published papers/chapter, etc. (grouped by topic)

Conservation and behavioural ecology, natural history, conservation genetics, and reintroduction biology of European ground squirrels and species alike:

• Tamás Cserkész, Olivér Váczi, Tünde Takáts, Piroska Pazonyi, Gábor Mikesy, Eric C. Brevik, Lajos Nagy, András István Csathó, Attila Németh, Tamás Szitta, Csaba Kiss, Annamária Laborczi, János Mészáros, Csongor Gedeon (corr.author). Past and present existence of Spermophilus citellus in Hungary with a forecast of its population using time series models. 2025, Journal for Nature Conservation, 84:126836.
• Ćosić, N., Ćirović, D., Fülöp, T., Gedeon, C., Hapl, E., Hoffmann, I.E., Kepel, A., Koshev, Y., Matějů, J., Nikolić Lugonja, T., Rammou, L.-D., Rusin, M., Váczi, O. & Hegyeli, Z. 2024. Spermophilus citellus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2024: e.T20472A221789466.
• Gedeon CI (corr.auth.), Árvai M, Szatmári G, Brevik EC, Takáts T, Kovács ZA, Mészáros J. Identification and Counting of European Souslik Burrows from UAV Images by Pixel-Based Image Analysis and Random Forest Classification: A Simple, Semi-Automated, yet Accurate Method for Estimating Population Size. Remote Sensing. 2022, 14(9):2025.
• Stefanović, M., Djan, M., Veličković, N. et al. Purifying selection shaping the evolution of the Toll-like receptor 2 TIR domain in brown hares (Lepus europaeus) from Europe and the Middle East. Mol Biol Rep 2020, 47, 2975–2984.
• Stefanović M, Djan M, Veličković N, Beuković D, Lavadinović V, Zhelev CD, et al. Positive selection and precipitation effects on the mitochondrial NADH dehydrogenase subunit 6 gene in brown hares (Lepus europaeus) under a phylogeographic perspective. PLoS ONE 2019, 14(11): e0224902.
• Gedeon, C. I. (corr.auth.), Hoffmann, I. E., Váczi, O., Knauer, F., Ben Slimen, H., Stefanović, M. … Suchentrunk, F. The role of landscape history in determining allelic richness of European ground squirrels (Spermophilus citellus) in Central Europe. Hystrix, the Italian Journal of Mammalogy, 2017, 28(2), 231-239.
• Gedeon, C.I. (corr.auth.), Boross, G., Németh, A. and Altbäcker, V. Release site manipulation to favour European ground squirrel Spermophilus citellus translocations: translocation and habitat manipulation. Wildlife Biology, 2012, 18: 97-104.
• Csongor I. Gedeon (corr.auth.), Lee C. Drickamer, and Andrew J. Sanchez-Meador “Importance of Burrow-Entrance Mounds of Gunnison’s Prairie Dogs (Cynomys gunnisoni) for Vigilance and Mixing of Soil,” The Southwestern Naturalist 2012, 57(1), 100-104.
• Hichem Ben Slimen, Csongor I. Gedeon, Ilse E. Hoffmann, Franz Suchentrunk. Dwindling genetic diversity in European ground squirrels? Mammalian Biology, 2012, Volume 77, Issue 1, Pages 13-21, ISSN 1616-5047. *Equal contribution.
• Gedeon, C.I. (corr.auth.), Váczi, O., Koósz, B. et al. Morning release into artificial burrows with retention caps facilitates success of European ground squirrel (Spermophilus citellus) translocations. Eur J Wildl Res, 2011, 57, 1101–1105.
• Péter Szenczi, Oxána Bánszegi, Anita Dúcs, Csongor I. Gedeon, Gábor Markó, István Németh, Vilmos Altbäcker, Morphology and function of communal mounds of overwintering mound-building mice (Mus spicilegus), Journal of Mammalogy, 2011, Volume 92, Issue 4, 16 August 2011, Pages 852–860.
• Říčanová, Š., Bryja, J., Cosson, JF. Csongor G.,…, Sedlacek F. Depleted genetic variation of the European ground squirrel in Central Europe in both microsatellites and the major histocompatibility complex gene: implications for conservation. Conserv Genet, 2011, 12, 1115–1129.
• Csongor I. Gedeon (corr. auth.), Gábor Markó, István Németh, Viktor Nyitrai, Vilmos Altbäcker, Nest material selection affects nest insulation quality for the European ground squirrel (Spermophilus citellus), Journal of Mammalogy, 2010, Volume 91, Issue 3, 16 June 2010, Pages 636–641.

Soil fauna ecology

• Sara Sadeghi, Billi Jean Petermann, Joshua J. Steffan, Eric C. Brevik, Csongor Gedeon. Predicting microbial responses to changes in soil physical and chemical properties under different land management, Applied Soil Ecology, Volume 188, 2023, 104878, ISSN 0929-1393.
• Pereg, L., Steffan, J.J., Gedeon, C., Thomas, P., Brevik, E.C. Medical Geology of Soil Ecology. In: Siegel, M., Selinus, O., Finkelman, R. (eds) Practical Applications of Medical Geology. Springer, Cham., 2021(12.6.1. Soil Macroorganisms. p. 371-381)
• Eric C. Brevik, Lily Pereg, Paulo Pereira, Joshua J. Steffan, Lynn C. Burgess, Csongor I. Gedeon. Shelter, clothing, and fuel: Often overlooked links between soils, ecosystem services, and human health, Science of The Total Environment, Volume 651, Part 1, 2019, Pages 134-142, ISSN 0048-9697
• Gedeon CI (corr.auth.), Flórián N, Liszli P, Hambek-Oláh B, Bánszegi O, Schellenberger J, Dombos M. An Opto-Electronic Sensor for Detecting Soil Microarthropods and Estimating Their Size in Field Conditions. Sensors. 2017; 17(8):1757.
• Dombos, M., Kosztolányi, A., Szlávecz, K., Gedeon, C., Flórián, N., Groó, Z., Dudás, P. and Bánszegi, O. EDAPHOLOG monitoring system: automatic, real-time detection of soil microarthropods. Methods Ecol Evol, 2017, 8: 313-321.
• Dudás, P., Menyhárt, L., Gedeon, C., Ambrus, G., & Tóth, F. The effect of hay mulching on soil temperature and the abundance and diversity of soil-dwelling arthropods in potato fields. EJE, 2016, 113, Article 456-461.
• Dudás, P., Gedeon, C., Menyhárt, L., Ambrus, G., & Tóth, F. The effect of mulching on the abundance and diversity of ground beetle assemblages in two hungarian potato fields. Columella: Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, 2016, 3(1), 45-53.
• Bánszegi, O., Bognár, E., Gedeon, C., & Dombos, M. (2014). Detecting soil microbial activity via an electrochemical activity sensor. Agrokémia és Talajtan, 63(1), 175-179.

Teaching (last 5 years)

• University of Dubuque, Dubuque, Iowa, USA

• Fall Semester, ESC115 Physical Geology (Laboratory), 4 credits, Co-teaching with Professor Dale Easley

• Spring Semester, EVS357 Soil Fauna Ecology (Lecture), 3 credits,

• Summer Course (Semester), EVS475 Science Research Techniques (Laboratory), 1 credit
• Thesis and course announcer at the Doctoral School of Environmental Sciences at Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary.

Other/ comments

• Practice in GPR surveys, data processing, and interpretation.