Zsolt Molnár

Hung.Acad.Sci. · Traditional Ecological Knowledge Research Group

In Hungary a countrywide vegetation mapping project carried out between 2003 and 2006 provided immense, detailed data on the current status of the forest-steppe vegetation (MÉTA database). In addition, two fundamentally important historical sources from the late eighteenth century have been analyzed recently. Using these sources we reconstruct and...

The mutual dependence of extensive land-use and conservation management has become apparent in Europe in the last 20–30 yr. Extensive land-use often survives in protected areas only, in the form of conservation management. Knowledge of extensive herding and that of conservation management are parts of two knowledge systems (traditional and scientif...

Habitat loss is a key driver of biodiversity loss. However, hardly any long-term time series analyses of habitat loss are available above the local scale for finer-level habitat categories. In this paper we analyse, from a long-term perspective, the habitat specificity of habitat area loss, the change in trends since the fall of communism and the i...

Many people call for strengthening knowledge co-production between academic science and indigenous and local knowledge systems. A major barrier to cooperation seems to be a lack of experience regarding where and how traditional knowledge can be found and obtained. Our key question was whether the expert judgment of academic zoologists or a feature-...

The research gap between rangeland/livestock science and conservation biology/vegetation ecology has led to a lack of evidence needed for grazing‐related conservation management. Connecting scientific understanding with traditional ecological knowledge of local livestock keepers could help bridge this research and knowledge gap. We studied the graz...

Vegetation-based landscape classifications reflecting combinations of different vegetation types promote the understanding of landscape patterns and ecological restoration. However, widespread landscape classifications containing a single thematic resolution may oversimplify landscape patterns. This study aimed at providing a solution for and testi...

An understanding of traditional ecological knowledge systems is increasingly acknowledged as a means of helping to develop global, regional and national, but locally relevant policies. Pastoralists often use lands that are unsuitable for crops due to biophysical and climatic extremities and variabilities. Forage plants of pastures are utilized by h...

We present PADAPT 1.0, the Pannonian Database of Plant Traits which relies on regional data sources and integrates existing data and new measurements on a wide range of traits and attributes of the plant species of the Pannonian Biogeographical Region and makes it freely accessible at www.padapt.eu. The current version covers the species of the reg...

Effective policies to halt biodiversity loss require knowing which anthropogenic drivers are the most important direct causes. Whereas previous knowledge has been limited in scope and rigor, here we statistically synthesize empirical comparisons of recent driver impacts found through a wide-ranging review. We show that land/sea use change has been...

Restoration prioritization helps determine optimal restoration interventions in national and regional spatial planning to create sustainable landscapes and maintain biodiversity. Here we investigate different forest-steppe vegetation types in the Pannonian sand region to provide restoration recommendations for conservation management, policy and re...

Traditional agroforestryAgroforestry systems such as wood pasturesWood pasture have been a widespread land-use type across Europe for thousands of years. Today, demand for healthy and organic food is growing. AgroforestryAgroforestry systems, which are based on traditional land-uses, could be a promising way to address this issue. In order to facil...

1. Herbivore species can either hinder or accelerate the invasion of woody species through selective utilization. Therefore, an exploration of foraging decisions can contribute to the understanding and forecasting of woody plant invasions. Despite the large distribution range and rapidly growing abundance of beaver species across the Northern Hemis...

Despite deforestation taking place globally, forest cover is increasing in many European landscapes. This increase, however, resulting from plantations and spontaneous forest regrowth, may obscure the generally declining trend of semi-natural forests, though the latter are essential for local and landscape-level conservation strategies and sustaina...

Background The Biebrza Valley is one of the largest complexes of wetlands (floodplain and percolation mire) and conservation sites in Central Europe. Local communities have managed the area extensively for subsistence and farming purposes for centuries; nonetheless, since the 1960s, hand mowing and livestock grazing have been gradually ceasing due...

Traditional ecological knowledge enables pastoralists to cope with social-ecological changes, thereby increasing the sustainability of their practices and fostering social-ecological resilience. Yet, there is a significant knowledge gap concerning the extent to which pastoral traditional ecological knowledge has changed over time at the global leve...

Micro-scale management of cultural landscapes with species-rich grasslands requires the operation of extensive, traditional land-use systems. These social-ecological systems are under increasing pressure of interacting drivers that impact on farmers' individual decisions and force them to make trade-offs. We aimed to reveal the local understanding...

One of the main goals of the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 is to avoid further loss of biodiversity and to restore ecosystems. These efforts can be facilitated by compiling the main research topics related to conservation biology to provide new evidence for the most urgent knowledge gaps, and publicise it to researchers, research funders and po...

High-resolution ecosystem maps increase the efficiency of policy implementation. However due to challenges related to both data and methods, such maps of appropriate scale and quality are still rarely available for nationwide analyses. We present solutions to some typical challenges of national-scale ecosystem mapping through the new Ecosystem Map...

The knowledge, values, and practices of Indigenous peoples and local communities offer ways to understand and better address social-environmental problems. The article reviews the state of the literature on this topic by focusing on six pathways by which Indigenous peoples and local communities engage with management of and relationships to nature....

Background Traditional knowledge is key for sustainability, but it is rapidly disappearing. Pig keeping in forests and marshes is an ancient, once widespread, now vanishing practice, with a major economic and ecological potential. The knowledge of pig keepers and the foraging activity of pigs are hardly documented. Methods We studied the knowledge...

Background : The concept of potential natural vegetation (PNV) embodies mature vegetation capable to survive under the environmental conditions of a site. Despite its widespread use, its applicability under the current level of human impacts on the environment has been criticised. Aims : We re-examine the original publication of the PNV concept an...

Background: Documenting local ecological knowledge (LEK) has recently became a topic of considerable interest. LEK can contribute to various areas of ecology, including habitat management and conservation biology. It has been recently revealed that recreational fishers’ ecological knowledge (FEK) can also provide valuable information about differen...

Aims Understanding fine-grain diversity patterns across large spatial extents is fundamental for macroecological research and biodiversity conservation. Using the GrassPlot database, we provide benchmarks of fine-grain richness values of Palaearctic open habitats for vascular plants, bryophytes, lichens and complete vegetation (i.e., the sum of the...

“Nature's contributions to people” (NCP) is designed to provide space for the recognition of diverse and evolving culturally mediated ideas about what people derive from, and co-produce with, nature. Its origins, along with the IPBES conceptual framework in which it is embedded, is transdisciplinary, action-oriented, and inclusive and also embraces...

The high nature conservation value of floodplain ecosystems is severely threatened by invasive alien species. Besides adversely affecting native biodiversity, these species also pose a major threat from a wider socio-ecological perspective (e.g. ‘roughness’ increases flood risk). Finding options to control dense shrub layers consisting of invasive...

ABSTRACT. Recently, climate change has had a considerable impact on rangelands, available forage, and shifting boundaries of ecological zones in Mongolia. Additionally, long-term studies in the forest-steppe zone show that increasing livestock pressure impacts vegetation composition and cover. Evidence shows that the traditional ecological knowledg...

Today’s Mediterranean landscapes result from the interaction between ecosystems and anthropogenic activities. This study aims to assess how the land-use changes between the mid-nineteenth and end of the twentieth century influenced the temporal continuity of the ecosystems in central Apennines (central Italy). Information was acquired from Gregoria...

Ecologists and conservationists increasingly acknowledge that traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) is vital for a better understanding and conservation of biodiversity; for example, for a more complex socioecological understanding of long-term processes, ecosystem resilience, the impacts of traditional management practices, and the worldviews und...

The Convention on Biological Diversity is defining the goals that will frame future global biodiversity policy in a context of rapid biodiversity decline and under pressure to make transformative change. Drawing on the work of Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars, we argue that transformative change requires the foregrounding of Indigenous people...

Background: Scientists frequently raise the topic of data deficiency related to the abundance and distribution of macrofungi in the context of climate change. Our study is the first detailed documentation on locals' perception of fungal ecology which covers a large mycophilous region of Europe (Mazovia, Poland). Methods: A total of 695 semi-struc...

A tölgylisztharmat (Erisyphe spp.) a tölgyek (különösen a kocsányos tölgy) erdész szakma által jól ismert kórokozója. Az európai növénykórtan és erdészettudomány is hatalmas tudást halmozott már fel arról, hogy milyen károkat képes okozni csemetekertekben, tarvágás vagy fokozatos felújító vágást követõ felújításokban, pótlá- sokban vagy éppen fiata...

Indigenous Peoples’ lands cover over one‐quarter of Earth's surface, a significant proportion of which is still free from industrial‐level human impacts. As a result, Indigenous Peoples and their lands are crucial for the long‐term persistence of Earth's biodiversity and ecosystem services. Yet, information on species composition on these lands glo...

European countries are far from the 15% restoration target to be reached by 2020, partly due to the lack of large-scale studies at the national level that would help prioritize restoration efforts. We investigated the regeneration capacity and the determining environmental factors at the national level for three Pannonian sandy habitat types. The a...

Introduced pathogen microorganisms are important drivers of ecosystem change. This paper highlights the impact of the non-native pathogen mildew multi-species complex on the natural regeneration dynamics of pedunculate oak (Quercus robur). Pedunculate oak is a European keystone tree species, hosting a great amount of biodiversity, but its future ro...

Including local and indigenous knowledge in the work of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) Global Assessment: Outcomes and lessons for the future.

Species reintroductions aim to re-establish populations of locally extinct, often keystone species. As a consequence of the reintroduction and protection of the Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber), the species has recolonized the suitable habitats (including floodplains) across Europe in the past few decades. Floodplain habitats have already been signif...

We examined the knowledge of local nature conservationists and researchers associated with the Eurasian beaver through interviews. In the first part of our study (Juhász et al. 2019), we reported the spread of the beaver, recognisable beaver signs, possibilities of human-beaver coexistence and causes of mortality. In the second part (present paper)...

Background Forests have been grazed for millennia. Around the world, forest grazing by livestock became a controversial management practice, gradually restricted in many countries over the past 250 years. This was also the case in most Central and Eastern European countries, including Hungary, where forest grazing was a legally prohibited activity...

Wetland grazing by livestock, once widespread throughout Europe, is increasingly used in conservation management. To avoid conflicts and enable cooperation between wetland users and conservationists, habitat quality indicators relevant to both stakeholder groups would be useful. We aimed to identify which indicators of grazed wetland habitat qualit...

Broader understanding of stakeholders' perceptions of landscape changes is needed to cope with global environmental challenges locally. In this study, farmers' and conservationists'-researchers' perceptions of landscape changes were compared by analyzing interviews conducted in the Danube-Tisza Interfluve region of Hungary through a combined quanti...

In the absence of primeval floodplain forests, near-natural remnants are key references for close-to-nature forestry and nature conservation. Old-growth forest characteristics (OGCs) were quantified in 16 managed (rotation or selection) and abandoned semi-natural floodplain forests by taking snapshot inventories of structural features. Principal co...

1. There have been calls for greater inclusion of Indigenous and local knowledge (ILK) in applied ecosystems research and ecological assessments. The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) Global Assessment (GA) is the first assessment to systematically work with ILK and issues of concern to Indigen...

Conflicts caused by reintroduced native species are increasing; however, there is a knowledge gap concerning ecological knowledge and perception of local community members regarding the impact of these species on local ecosystem services and livelihoods. We studied local knowledge about beavers and the perception of their impact on ecosystem servic...

For the improvement and maintenance of the desirable ecological value of grasslands it is necessary to manage them in a way which maintains their structure and their long-term functioning. Extensive grazing plays a crucial role in the seasonal biomass removal, thereby it prevents litter accumulation and shrub encroachment. Defoliation and biomass r...

Working with indigenous and local knowledge (ILK) is vital for inclusive assessments of nature and nature’s linkages with people. Indigenous peoples’ concepts about what constitutes sustainability, for example, differ markedly from dominant sustainability discourses. The Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystems Services (IPBES) is...

Intact Forest Landscapes (IFLs) are critical strongholds for the environmental services that they provide, not least for their role in climate protection. On the basis of information about the distributions of IFLs and Indigenous Peoples’ lands, we examined the importance of these areas for conserving the world's remaining intact forests. We determ...

Relational values are values of desirable relationships between people and nature and among people (through nature). We report on the approach to capture relational values of nature’s contributions to people in the regional assessment for Europe and Central Asia of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services...

A felvidéki Mátyusföld jelenleg intenzív nagyparcellás agrárgazdálkodás alatt álló terület, Szlovákia legfontosabb gabonatermesztő vidéke. A múltban ez a terület vízjárta, árvizekkel sújtott, mocsaras táj volt, amely szántóföldi termesztésre alig volt alkalmas. Célunk az ezen a területen fekvő Zsigárd tájhasználat-történetének rekonstruálása, a has...

Over the last three centuries, worldwide improper utilization of rangelands has led to degradation of ecosystem services. Rangelands, like other natural resources used by humans, are embedded in complex socio-ecological systems. To determine how to better manage this important resource, we developed a rangeland ecosystem services model using the Dr...

A Biológiai Sokféleség és az Ökoszisztéma-szolgáltatások Globális Értékelő Tanulmánya, amelyet az ENSZ Biológiai Sokféleség és Ökoszisztéma-szolgáltatás Kormányközi Testülete (IPBES) jelentetett meg 2019 májusában, elismerte, hogy a természet védelme hatékonyabbá válhat a hagyományos, bennszülött és helyi tudás bevonásával, illetve ezen tudás birto...

The Global Assessment on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services released in May 2019 by the United Nations' Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) acknowledged that nature conservation could become more efficient with the inclusion of traditional, indigenous and local knowledge, and the participation o...

Összefoglaló: A Biológiai Sokféleség és Ökoszisztéma-szolgáltatás Kormányközi Testület (IPBES) négy regionális értékelő tanulmányt készített 2015 és 2018 között. Jelen munkában az Európa és Közép-Ázsia biodiverzitásával és ökoszisztéma-szolgáltatásaival foglalkozó regionális értékelő ta-nulmányt ismertetjük, melyet 118 szerző 4750 információforrás...