The understanding and importance of traditional ecological knowledge systems is increasingly recognised worldwide as a means to develop more effective policies in today’s crises, e.g. in nature conservation or grassland management. Zsolt Molnár, scientific advisor at the Centre for Ecological Research, has been researching the traditional ecological knowledge of pastoralists for more than 20 years. His Iranian student is the first author of a joint publication with European, Asian and African authors in the Journal of Environmental Management.

Unusual for academic publications, the publication is a collaboration between researchers and practising pastoralists. “Since the holders of traditional knowledge are mostly not researchers but herders, farmers, fishermen, when a researcher works with their knowledge, the ethical approach is for these ‘non-scientific’ professionals to also become co-authors. After all, the new publication is the result of collective thinking, knowledge co-production. Such recognition of traditional knowledge is now, fortunately, becoming more and more common” – said Zsolt Molnár.

Herders often graze in landscapes that are less suitable for crop production due to climatic extremes or soil conditions. Traditional grazing systems exist in very different natural environments, such as tundra, steppe, savannah, desert, mountainous areas. Pastoralist communities have locally relevant, multi-generational traditional ecological knowledge of pasture plants on which they base the utilisation of their pastures.

During the research, the authors collected the knowledge of herders on pasture (and hay meadow) plants and plant-livestock interactions in a review article. They analysed 24 of the 372 relevant scientific articles and 18 of the 105 videos about herders and their pastures. In addition, semi-structured interviews were conducted with practising herders in Iran, Mongolia, Kenya, Poland and Hungary to discuss the findings and conclusions.

Thirty-five indicators were identified in the scientific papers and documentaries of how herders ‘see’ forage plants. These indicators described both the botanical features of the plants and the livestock behaviour during grazing, as well as the impact of forage plants on the condition and health of livestock. The indicators were used by herders in management decisions to optimise grazing, the availability and quality of fodder grasses, and the appropriate way of grazing. Although herders around the world are very different, their knowledge of pasture grasses and the relationship between livestock and forage plants is remarkably similar. The researchers identified ten general principles that were common globally, almost regardless of location or habitat type. Such a global synthesis has never been done before.

Perhaps the most important key global principle is the livestock-centred approach explained Zsolt Molnár: “herders see plants through the “mouth of the livestock”. While in the pasture together, herders and livestock reciprocally learn from each other. The condition of the pasture grasses is closely monitored by the herders, who graze each patch in a targeted way, while often planning livestock movements with surprisingly strategic attention to detail, on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. The aim is to make the best use of the available grass as a resource and to ensure also the long-term ‘well-being’ of the pastures (see more details in this film). The lexical details of this knowledge are of course highly specific to the place, but the principles are globally general. You might ask that it’s good, but why is it important? It may come as a surprise, but even in cases where the state or a national park develops supporting measures and regulatory systems for pastoral grazing, it is easy to develop rules that have harmful effects. Because decision-makers often do not sufficiently understand the pastoral world, which is so different from our own. Our article points out that there are general principles that we can build on, and that we can take into account to create better policies, both ecologically and culturally.”

Researchers hope that a better understanding of pastoralists’ knowledge of grasslands and livestock grazing will help not only to maintain the biodiversity and economic benefits of less productive semi-natural grasslands, but also to innovatively preserve the traditional pastoral way of life.

The members of the ‘Lendület’ Seed Ecology Research Group of the Centre of Ecological Research followed the vegetation dynamics of artificially created grassland patches for several years. The researchers found that in the course of grassland-restoration the efforts at the beginning pay off: the simultaneous sowing of grasses and forbs in fallow lands leads to the development of species-rich grassland communities and efficient weed control.
The aim of ecological restoration is to recreate something lost or deteriorated. Grassland restoration aims to recreate grassland ecosystems and communities. In many cases recreation of the original ecosystem is not a possibility, but restoration still can help to cover landscape scars created by human activities. Restored grasslands not only improve landscape aesthetics but offer many different ecosystem services as well (e.g., forage for the livestock, nectar for pollinators, effective carbon capture and storage, and soil erosion control).
When grassland restoration is done with seed sowing, the success of restoration depends on many factors, such as the identity of sown species, the timing of sowing, the quantity, quality and proportion of sown seeds. In the current study the researchers aimed to find the best timing to sow grasses and forbs to achieve the highest possible species richness, to enhance forb-establishment and to hamper weed encroachment.
„The matrix of the grasslands is composed by grasses. Previous works found that sowing grass seeds certainly results in a closed grass sward within a few years, and also hampers weed encroachment. That is why grass sowing is preferred in landscape-scale restoration works. But it also has its feedbacks: the new grassland will be species-poor, as the closed grass sward hampers the establishment of other grassland species.” – explained Réka Kiss, the first author of the manuscript published in the Nature- Scientific Reports.
To create species-rich grasslands the use of diverse forb seed mixtures is needed. However, the compilation or production of such seed mixtures requires more efforts (seeds of more species are needed in good quality and high quantity). Due to these reasons diverse seed mixture is less likely to be used in the early stages of restoration. In later stages, however, it will need more effort from the practitioners to secure the successful establishment of species.
„We were curious of the most suitable timing: If we want to sow both grasses and forbs in a fallow for a species rich grassland, which is the time-lag when with the least effort we can achieve the most?” – explained Réka Kiss – „At the beginning of the experiment we created 36 patches in a recently abandoned land. We sow exclusively grass seeds, exclusively diverse forb seed mixture (20 species) or both of them into the patches. When we combined the grass with the forb seed mixture we sown them simultaneously (at the same time), or the diverse seed mixture was sown with a delay of 1, 2 or 3 years.”
Following the development of the patches for several years the researchers found that the best results were achieved when seeds were sown simultaneously, without time-lag. In such patches the species richness of species was the highest, the weeds were less successful and the establishment success of sown forb species was the highest. This is the most cost-effective and most successful method among the studied sowing regimes. If simultaneous sowing is not a possibility, sowing forbs one year later than grasses is still effective. However, after one year the advantage received by grasses cannot be outcome by the forbs, their successful establishment in later stages can be promoted only by active interventions.

Source: nature.com - Co-seeding grasses and forbs supports restoration of species-rich grasslands and improves weed control in ex-arable land - 2022-12-08