Baulks, cultural heritage elements as ecological corridors in some traditional Romanian landscapes

The key objective of the current study is to make a general analysis about baulks, one of the structural elements that define a natural – cultural landscape, and that can be considered in a way “elusive”. Baulk can be defined as a narrow stripe of land acting as a border between two agricultural fields that are used in a rather traditional manner. They have a important role in the traditional rural communities, marking private properties, and there are special rules for the management of these structures. Within the landscape, baulks work as ecological corridors, linking the various natural and anthropic habitats. The interconnectivity of the different habitats and the maintenance of a high degree of biodiversity is practically assured, in the landscapes where these structures have been conserved. We especially focused on the baulks found in Banat, Maramureș and for other regions we used data from references

Ethnobotany

Plants are a part of our everyday life and have always been. Ethnobotany is the study of the complex relationship between humans and the plant world found in their surroundings. This discipline has a long history of academic research all over the world. Ethnobotanical research includes the use of plants in all aspects of life, e.g. specific customs, religious beliefs, food, medicine, fibres, and other cultural or economic aspects. The use of certain species of plants can give important information on the complex interaction of people and plants in the past, the present, and the future. In some cases, even the linguistic analysis of specific local plant names can be used to inform us about past land use or specific vegetation features. This chapter provides an overview of ethnobotany and how ethnobotanical work can be done, also referring to central handbooks on the subject. We explain some of the most important methods on how to study ethnobotany in historical contexts and in present communities, including different kinds of interviews. The chapter also highlights the importance and contributions of ethnobotany in undertakings based in Historical Ecology by gaining additional information on local communities in past and present

THERMOLUMINESCENCE PROPERTIES OF THE 0.5P₂O₅ - xBaO - (0.5-x)K₂O GLASS SYSTEM. A POSSIBLE DOSIMETRIC MATERIAL

Thermoluminescence (TL) properties of freshly b irradiated phosphate glasses doped with BaO and K2O oxides at various concentrations were investigated. Barium-doped glasses (0.5P2O5 -  0.5BaO) show two TL peaks  centered at 180 0C and 380 0C due to the defects generated by modifier Ba2+ ions inserted into the glass network. In the case of potassium-doped glasses (0.5P2O5 - 0.5K2O) an intense TL peak at 280 0C with an weak shoulder at 150 0C appear. The TL emission of the other phosphate glasses, 0.5P2O5 -  xBaO - (0.5-x)K2O with 0.1 £ x £ 0.4, containing both type of the network modifier ions (K+, Ba2+) consist from the overlap of the above – mentioned luminescence spectra depending on the local energetic level diagrams of the luminescence centers. A linear dependence (R2 > 0.99) of the integral TL signals with the absorbed doses were evidenced for all the investigated glasses which can be considered as good materials for dosimetry in the 0 – 50 Gy range

Role of livestock and traditional management practices in maintaining high nature value grasslands

High Nature Value (HNV) grasslands face increasing threats from biodiversity loss and reduced habitat functionality, largely driven by the decline of traditional animal husbandry and grassland management practices. We studied the effects of traditional management on grassland plant communities in Ponoară village (Bihor County, Romania), where traditional farming systems are still maintained. We investigated the direct and indirect effects of traditional grazing and manuring on plant community composition and diversity, mediated by seed dispersal and altered soil properties. We combined vegetation surveys of grassland parcels with a seed content survey involving germinating seeds from farmyard manure and livestock feces collected from sampled parcels. Among the 220 vascular plant species recorded, 43 species (19 %) were dispersed via zoochory through feces and farmyard manure. Most seedlings germinated from cow feces, followed by cow manure and sheep feces. Mowing frequency, grazing, and cleaning (removal of shrubs, litter, moss, ant/mole hills) were key predictors of plant species richness. Manuring significantly influenced plant community composition. Seedling abundance germinated from livestock feces and manure explained ~20 % of the variance in species richness. Grazing intensity had a strong negative direct effect on richness, but also positive indirect effects mediated by increased soil humus content. In contrast, the indirect effects of manuring on plant communities were more strongly linked to seed dispersal than to soil modification. Our findings suggest that low-intensity grazing and organic manuring, when integrated with traditional practices in heterogeneous landscapes, can shape grassland composition without reducing species richness, while also enhancing seed-based regeneration

Grassland with tradition: sampling across several scientific disciplines

The traditional, low-input use of grassland in Central and Eastern Europe has provided high-quality food, clothing and manure for millennia. As an outcome of sustainable low-intensity agriculture, some rural areas have globally significant species richness. Traditional farming is still well preserved in several regions of the Carpathian Mountains. This is a unique opportunity to use the wisdom of our ancestors to keep grassland biodiversity for our descendants. We present a sampling methodology to survey traditionally managed grassland ecosystems holistically, including abiotic, biological and cultural phenomena, and reflect thus the multidimensionality of traditional farming. Our main objective was to reveal the connection between particular management practices and precisely measured plot plant diversity. Our motivation was to identify traditional farming approaches that result in both high biodiversity and sustainable grassland utilization in particular region, and confirm their impact also using statistical tests. The multitaxon vegetation sampling at seven spatial scales combined with soil analyses, detailed land-use information derived from interviews with the land parcel owners, satellite pictures and historical materials provide potentially valuable data for several scientific disciplines including syntaxonomy, plant ecology, environmental anthropology and ethnology. Examples of grassland management practices based on traditional ecological knowledge can serve as an inspiration for developing modern biodiversity conservation strategies applicable for rural regions. The database Grassland with Tradition is registered in Global Index of Vegetation-Plot Databases (GIVD) with the identifier ID EU-00-032. To date it contains data from 31 study sites in 7 countries (Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Ukraine). Syntaxonomic reference: Mucina et al. (2016).</jats:p