**4. Discussion**

In the present vegetation study, we also discovered two vegetation types: the *Potentillo arenariae-Festucetum pseudovinae* and the *Thymo serpylli-Festucetum pseudovinae.* The two vegetation types were discovered in the Pannonian region as a new occurrence, which may have appeared as a result of environmental conditions [8,31]. The sand hills protruding from the river floodplain offered dry and nutrient-poor habitats where sand vegetation appeared and was able to form.

Vegetation edges were studied primarily in the central Great Plain of the Carpathian Basin [12,14]. Similar transitional conditions under similar environmental, water, and soil conditions may develop at the northern occurrence limits of these typical Pannonian vegetation types. In addition, two vegetation types were discovered in the Pannonian region as a new occurrence, which may have appeared as a result of territorial utilization, as in the eastern part of the basin (Nyírség) [31]. During the examination of the sandy area, two new occurrences of acerbic sand were found in the Pannonian region, which were only known from the western (Inner Plain), southwestern (Inner Somogy), and eastern (Nyírség) areas of the Pannonian region [36,37].

Among the dominant species such as *Corinophorus canescens* (L.) P. B., *Jasione montana* L., *Veronica* ssp.; however, the dominant species *Festuca vaginata* did not occur. The dominant taxon in the more closed stands was *Festuca pseudovina*, which also indicates the degradation of the vegetation [37–39]. The occurrence of *Festuca rupicola* suggests cooler environmental conditions and climatic effects [40].

Complex patches appear in the deeper areas, mostly characteristic of individual Hungarian habitats [22, 41,42], and wet, swampy, marshy, or water-bound vegetation patches appear in the depressions on the site, which [43–45] may generally be typical but the position of the ground water table is especially important in the central area of the Carpathian Basin, which leads to the appearance of diverse and species rich vegetation [15,16,45]. Spots from the ÁNÉR-based habitat mapping showed agreemen<sup>t</sup> with the remote sensing data, which were also used as controls. Typical sandy grassland species such as *Stipa borysthenica* also occur at the heights of the northern sand steppes. In addition, isolated parts within each patch can be detected, which provide additional information about land use, which is also of practical importance for grazing, where land use is important in its maintenance, as well as in the mosaic-like and diverse vegetation.

Data from the Sentinel-2A satellite offer an opportunity for mapping natural habitats [46–48]. Based on our observations, it can be seen that the individual vegetation patches can be distinguished well based on the ÁNÉR categories, thus the field mapping is facilitated by the data of satellite images in hard-to-reach areas, as others noticed during their work [27]. When constructing an association-accurate map, the individual vegetation types are not clearly separated if there is no need for a habitat map of such accuracy and a simpler category system can be used to solve this problem, which [27] also received attention during the study. In contrast, the regularities are clearly outlined in the studied habitats and the agricultural area shows a homogeneous picture since after the harvest the open farmland (Category T1 in Figure 5) shows a lower NDVI value [49,50]. One can see that the wet and dry spots are markedly different in between the connected areas. The sandy grasslands are different associations on the bedrock, giving a mosaic-like picture (Category H5b in Figure 5) [46,51]. Isolated areas within each patch can also be identified as an area used by cattle as resting areas to provide additional information on land use that is also of practical importance for grazing. In order to preserve the original vegetation of the area [52], we need to protect the endangered and protected plants and also the vegetation types from river regulation, ploughing, and deforestation of the areas.
