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Relationship between the diversity and mowing in cleared grassland areas in the Börzsöny mountains
3-13Views:76Nowadays, mowing has an increasing role in the management of semi-natural and nature conservation areas. Semi-dry grasslands have been formed on cleared areas of forest in the Pannon mountains, which would be reclaimed by forest without use of the areas by humans. In our work we analysed cleared grasslands. The questions we aimed to answer were the following:
(i) What kind of vegetation changes were caused by different land use types?
(ii) Is mowing a proper method for grassland management and nature protection in the studied system?
(iii) Do the species composition and the diversity vary within two years when conditions of precipitation are different?
In four sampling areas situted in Börzsöny mountains (North-Hungary), we registered the plant species and their cover values in ten quadrats per sampling area. We performed a site assessment in April, June and October, 2013-2014. We analysed the data by using cluster and ordination processes and we compared the sampling areas on the basis of the humidity preference and Shannon’s index of diversity. From nature conservation’s point of view, it is favourable that the cover of Potentilla alba occurring in the area was high. It is a specialist plant species with low stress resistance. However, due to tourism, it occured less frequently in the area and Bromus erectus became dominant instead. The species whose cover was more extensive in areas not affected by tourism – for example Alopecurus pratensis, Galium verum, Carex praecox, Trisetum flavescens – occurred less frequently in areas affected by tourism. On the short run, species did not completely disappear due to the changing conditions but their abundance decreased, as has been already supported by other surveys. The ordination analysis showed that the composition of species considerably differed with the portions of land cultivated in different ways. The change of the cover values was apparent not only in the case of the dominant species but of also in case of species with smaller cover. The decrease of diversity, the change of plant cover, the decrease of number of sensitive species as a result of tourism are typical phenomena all over the world. The Shannon’s diversity records showed that due to human presence and trampling the diversity declined. It was considerably lower in the year with less rain. In the year with more rain the diversity of species was considerably higher, however, the difference in between the surveyed areas was large. All these examples draw attention to the important role of environmental factors alongside the human factors. The water reserve also influences the productivity of grasslands and water has primary importance in the structure of plant communities. According to the survey, in the two areas not affected by tourism, in the rainier year the difference between the humidity preference of the species of the dry and the less dry patches became similar. On these areas, there were more species with higher humidity preferences in the rainier year, however, this tendency could not be observed in the rainier year on areas affected by tourism. The areas affected by tourism may react in a less flexible manner to the change in precipitation conditions. Based on our analysis, we can conclude that the surveyed semi-dry grasslands are extremely rich in species and therefore proper grassland management plans are needed. To preserve grasslands of high natural value, the impacts of the environmental factors should also be considered in addition to becoming acquainted with the history and the present conditions of landscape use.
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Changes in land use in Fiság-valley between 1980 and 2003
21-22Views:62Landscape and land use forms have been changing constantly throughout history. The investigation area is located in the Eastern Carpathians, a modest basin, where the variable land use forms – pasture, hayfield, forest, forested pasture, forested hayfield and arable land – form a mosaic-like scenery.
Our investigation covers a period of 23 years, based on field work and historical analogue map-analysis. The survey provides data regarding the transformation of land use through two decades and also makes further research possible. -
Investigation of early season phytoproduction in sheep pastures
3-7Views:131In the droughty spring of 2021, we investigated the rate of phytoproduction development in extensive grassland plots with solonyec soil conditions from the perspective of sheep grazing. During the empirical time interval of the start of potential sheep grazing, data were recorded on a total of 7 occasions at 6 different sites registered under one parcel number. Our results showed that the highest soil moisture values during the study period were measured in the fallow grassland, while the highest soil temperature values were measured in the grassland used as enclosed pasture. Plant height values were highest in the fallow grassland and in the grassland of the pasture forest. The lowest plant height was recorded in the enclosed pasture, although the highest nutrient availability was also measured here.
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The modification of natural lawn types from the effect of utilisation and cultivation in Barót mountains – Kovászna county
80-81Views:53In the last decade the animal stock decreased to half couldn't optimally utilise the disposable natural lawns. Through the changed ownership's the utilisation of the natural lawns also changed. The areas near settlements are overladed and at the same time the big distant areas are only temporally or not at all utilised. On the places in use usually the fertilisation and maintenance work are cancelled. What kind of effect has the changed utilisation and cultivation on natural lawns, do they provoke modifications on it? Looking for an answer for these questions in 2002 a lawn typological measurement was started in two separated areas in Barót Mountains.
This publication is about the observations during this monitoring work. The measurement has been made with the system of lawn typological classification of Tucra-Kovács and collaborators (1987). This classification analyses 3 factors: plant composition, facilities at production site, and the necessary technology for rising the crop. The one year long monitoring is not enough to make conclusions regarding the modification of lawn types, but the changed relations of last decade determined the natural lawn. On the places exposed to exaggerated tread the Dechampsia caespitosa is spreading, on acid soils the Nardus stricta, showing the formation of significant subtypes inside of Agrostis tenuis- Festuca rubra lawn type significant for beech tree zone.
The spreading of woody plants is much significant. The shrubs are spreading showing that the lawn areas withdrew from cultivation is progressing to natural estate, to forest. -
Investigation of factors influencing winter use of sylvan habitats by red and roe deers in order to reduce damages on forest-tees
75-79Views:125A nagytestű növényevők táplálkozása során keletkező erdei vadkár elviselhető mértékének meghatározása meglehetősen bizonytalan, és az érdekelt felek részéről óhatatlanul, általában számos érzelmi elemet is tartalmaz. A túlzott, vagy annak vélt nagyvad-sűrűségnek általában két, erdőgazdálkodást és természetvédelmet egyaránt érintő kihatását szokták említeni. Az egyik az, hogy lehetetlenné válik az ökológiai szempontból ténylegesen kedvezőbb és olcsóbb természetes felújítások alkalmazása, a másik pedig, hogy a vadrágás megdrágítja az erdőfelújításokat, értéktelenebb erdőket eredményez, és ráadásul a sokszor kényszerűen alkalmazott erdősítésvédő kerítések tájromboló hatásúak, vagyis a természetvédelem érdekeivel is ellentétesek.
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Effect of sheep grazing practices on the endoparasite population that can be recorded on grassland
17-23Views:96Sampling for the occurrence of internal parasites of sheep was carried out in three extensively cultivated Achilleo - Festucetum pseudovinae grass communities with different grazing systems but with the same site conditions, in 2022 - 2023, at the MATE Research Institute in Karcag, Hungary. The sheep grazing regimes studied were: pastoral grazing, rotational grazing, and permanent, delta - forest grazing used on all grazing days. Microscopic analysis of the genomes and numbers of potentially infective oviposition and L3 larval stage endoparasites in sheep pastures was carried out on samples of faecal matter from grazed pastures and grass samples prepared using a 'larval feeder'. Our research objective was to clarify the effect of different sheep grazing practices on parasite infestation in a semi - natural grassland community with a solonyec soil composition.
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Analysis of the management of game feeding grounds based on the data of the Hungarian National Game Management Database: Papers presented at the „Timely questions in grassland and game management” scientific conference (Hungarian Academy of Sciences – Kaposvár University, 18-19 May 2006)
51-61Views:120One effect of the intensive management of forest and agricultural lands is the disappearance of the natural habitats of game species. The purpose of the management of game crop fields and meadows, as well as the feeding of game, is to compensate the shortage of food supply and to reduce game damage on cultivated lands.
Game managers expect to increase the density and the harvestable game through the systematic and professional cultivation of food plantings and game feeding. Furthermore, it is hoped that these parctices result in higher incomes for game management.
This study is based on the data of the Hungarian National Game Management Database for the period from 1997 to 2004. The paper shows the changes of the areas of game crop fields and the amounts of game feed used in Hungary. Furthermore, the correlations between game feeding parameters and the estimated and harvested numbers of the game species were investigated.
Our results show relatively low statistical relation between the game feeding and the density of the game. -
Clarifying the effect of season on the early crop development of unconditionally grazed sheep
17-22Views:55The feasibility of first grazing of extensive sheep pastures was investigated by monitoring the height of grassland in the spring of 2022 and 2023 at the Karcag Research Institute, focusing on the effect of vintage in this manuscript. For 6 grassland plots with different parameters, potentially suitable for early spring sheep grazing, in a meadow on solonyec soil with no level of inputs due to environmental subsidies, we refined soil temperature, soil moisture and height of grassland vegetation at the same time of year. For both years, it was concluded that it is justified to start grazing sheep on the fallow grassland and the pasture forest.
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The impact of production factors on the yield formation of grasses of various exploitation
13-18Views:138The lawn – following the forest – is the best manner of land use. 10.75 percent of Hungarian territory is grassland. 90-95 percent of the grass’s root system can be found in the upper 10 cm layer of the soil therefore and because of the large evaporating surface the grasses have a great water demand and weather sensitivity. Beside the nutritional ability and some extreme properties of soil (for ex. great salinity) there is an influence on formation of the grass-type and the yield. In our experiments the sites were utilised 2, 3 and 4 times yearly. At two sites for four years (2006-2009) and at one site for two years (2009-2010) the quantity and the distribution of the yield as well as other parameters were examined, which are not reported in this paper. This experiment is a part of a climate research project run at 27 sites in Austria. The laboratory analyses were carried out uniformly in the LFZ Raumberg- Gumpenstein Research Institute. The most important results of this study are the following: The productivity of the grass type formed on the Little Cumania lowland is very limited. In case of drought there was the highest yield decrease and at the same time in case of good precipitation there was the smallest increase of yield. The effect of grass utilization by late first cut at the poorestsoil site was very unfavourable. At the grass sites of better quality, the utilization manner of 3 or 4 growth, resulted in a better adaptation to the climatic extremities.
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Study of the agronomic value of artificial extensive grasslands
28-35Views:61The agricultural value of an extensive, alternativly used grassland with three seed densities (500 seed m-2, 1000 seed m-2 and 1500 seed m-2) and at two sowing times was examined in an established grassland experiment with herbs on sandy brown forest soil in Gödöllő in the spring and autumn of 2002.
The results showed that treatment No. 3 (=1500 seed m-2) had the highest agricultural value. It can be concluded that the highest seed norm resulted in the highest grass cover. Through the estimated agricultural value, we have also proved that the grass established in autumn grows more vigorously than the dicotyledonous species. This follows from the biological characteristics of the two plant groups. The grasses are tolerant towards cold and perennial species, while most of the dicotyledonous are annual and prefer milder conditions.
Grassland areas with the same ecological basis differ greatly as far as their plant composition is concerned, depending on seed density. In addition, the plant composition changes continusly according to sowing time. -
Correlation between the diversity and mowing in cleared grassland areas in the Börzsöny mountains
17-20Views:89Due to changing land use, traditionally managed grasslands are rarely seen This is an unfortunate fact as regular mowing and foraging are the primary tools of maintaining these areas. These methods are of high importance in terms of nature conservation management, by affecting the successive processes. Natural disturbances are part of the ecological systems, and the majority of meadows and hayfields of high nature conservation value can only be preserved through management. By means of nature conservation treatments, the number of grasslands species can be increased and various accompanying species can be introduced.