The Hungarian birch mouse at Expo Osaka

Two researchers from the Faculty of Science and Technology at the University of Debrecen (DE TTK) gave a presentation in Japan at the Hungarian Pavilion at Expo Osaka on their efforts to save the Hungarian birch mouse, now on the brink of extinction.

At this year's World Expo in Japan's second largest city, 160 countries and 8 international organizations are presenting their innovations and cultural values. A few days ago, during Biodiversity Week at the Hungarian Pavilion, Gábor Sramkó, assistant professor at the Department of Botany, Institute of Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Debrecen (DE), and Tünde Nyíri Virág, assistant professor at the Department of Evolutionary Zoology and Human Biology, and researchers from HUN-REN gave a presentation on their conservation biology research findings on the Hungarian birch mouse, which lives exclusively in the Carpathian Basin and is considered a Hungarian national treasure.

Researchers explain that this small mammal, once widespread, now lives in only one place: the picturesque steppe landscape of Bükk National Park, in the Borsodi-Mezőség Landscape Protection Area, where Hungarian researchers and conservationists are working together to protect the last remaining population. Their methods include habitat surveys, population monitoring, and state-of-the-art genomic research.

The audience learned what is at stake, why this conservation biology research is so important and how innovative tools such as whole genome sequencing offer exciting new opportunities for nature conservation. Through the story of rare and endangered species, we highlighted the urgent global challenge of biodiversity loss and showed how science and nature conservation can work together to protect our shared natural heritage, said Gábor Sramkó.

The assistant professor at DE TTK also reported that, with the help of a European project called Biodiversity Genomics Europe, they had succeeded in assembling the genome of the Hungarian birch mouse at the chromosome level this year, which will be an important milestone in understanding the species and planning its effective protection.

"With the help of this, we were able to show that the large drainage channels dug in the 1970s separated the population into fragments, which is not good for such a small, endangered animal," added assistant professor Virág Tünde Nyíri.

The presentation also highlighted the conservation work carried out by the Hungarian Natural History Museum and the Bükk National Park, which aims to improve knowledge and protection of the Hungarian birch mouse.