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Highlights 23 extensive grazing by cattle, sheep and pigs has decreased since the 1940s 24  the number of habitat types used by cattle and pigs decreased significantly 25  use of non-pasture grassland habitats decreased, especially the use of stubbles 26 agricultural and conservation policies should cover all grazeable habitat types 27  sustainable extensive grazing need cooperation between various knowledge systems 28 *Manuscript Click here to view linked References  Abstract 29Many habitats in Europe have been managed by grazing for thousands of years. However, 30 extensive grazing systems are becoming increasingly rare in the region, and there is a lack of 31 understanding of the functioning of these systems. 32We carried out 147 structured interviews in 38 landscapes throughout the Carpathian Basin, with 3-33 5 informants/landscape. The number of actively grazing cattle, sheep and pigs, their year-round habitat 34 use and the proportion of herds actively tended were documented for four characteristic historical 35 periods (before, during and after socialist co-operatives and after EU Accession). We conclude that agricultural policies should take into account the full spectrum of habitat types 49 necessary for the effective operation of extensive grazing systems. We argue that conservation-50 oriented extensive grazing should use the traditional wisdom of herders but adapted to the present 51 situations. 52 53

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BackgroundTraditional habitat knowledge, like the classification of folk habitats and how people partition their landscape into habitats, is an emerging but still understudied part of traditional ecological knowledge. Our objectives were to reconstruct the folk habitats and the partitioning of the landscape into these folk habitats by Mongolian herders in Northern Mongolia and to compare it with other Northern Hemisphere boreal-temperate classifications.MethodsThe study area is located in Seruun Gilad (Khuvsugul province) and belongs to the mountain forest steppe of the Khangai region (dominated by meadow steppes and larch forests). Most herder families use the area for summer pasturing. Data collection was based on indoor and outdoor, structured and semi-structured interviews and interviews during landscape walks and participatory fieldwork. We interviewed 20 people using 76+ photos of plant species and 25+ photos of habitats and asked them to name and describe the habitats and describe the habitat preferences of the species.ResultsMongolian herders distinguished at least 88 folk habitat categories and knew well the habitat preferences of the 76 plant species. They argued that a herder has to be observant of nature. The habitat classification was moderately lexicalized, with many descriptive expressions. Most habitats (77%) belonged to the meso-scale, while macro-scale habitats (like taiga, Gobi) and micro-scale habitats (like marmot burrow, top of the tussock) were few. Habitat names did not reflect directly the usefulness of the habitat. Classification was multidimensional; key dimensions were geomorphological and edaphic. There were some species (e.g., botyuul, hyag, shireg) and species groups (hot plants, leafy plants) that were often used to describe habitat types.ConclusionsLandscape partitionings in the Northern Hemisphere differed considerably in the importance of various dimensions used, with edaphic, geomorphological, hydrological, and dominant species-based dimensions having higher importance, while land use, successional, and zoological dimensions having lower importance. We argue that conducting research on folk habitats will contribute to a deeper understanding of how nature is perceived by locals and to a more efficient management of the Mongolian pastures.

The first version of the map of the Hungarian vegetation-based landscape regions were prepared at the scale of 1 : 200,000 (1 km or higher resolution). The primary goal of the map was to provide an exact background for the presentation and evaluation of the data of the MÉTA database. Secondly, we intended to give an up-to-date and detailed vegetation-based division of Hungary with a comprehensive nomenclature of the regions. Regions were primar- 0236-6495/$ 20.00 © 2008 Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest ily defined on the basis of their present zonal vegetation, or their dominant extrazonal or edaphic vegetation. Where this was not possible, abiotic factors that influence the potential vegetation, the flora were taken into consideration, thus, political and economical factors were ignored. All region borders were defined by local expert botanists, mainly based on their field knowledge. The map differs in many features from the currently used, country-wide, flora-or geography-based divisions in many features. We consider our map to be temporary (i.e. a work map), and we plan to refine and improve it after 5 years of testing.