Magyari Márta (szerk.): A Debreceni Déri Múzeum Évkönyve 2011-2012 (Debrecen, 2012)
Természettudomány - Molnár Zsolt–Hoffmann Károly: A hortobágyi pásztorok növény és növényzetismerete. IV. A legeltető állattartás növényzeti vonatkozásai, valamint a hortobágyi növényzet változásának pásztorok általi jellemzése
A HORTOBÁGYI PÁSZTOROK NÖVÉNY- ÉS NÖVÉNYZETISMERETE 77 Zsolt Molnár-Károly Hoffmann Plant and habitat knowledge of herdsmen in the Hortobágy steppe IV.: botanical knowledge related to animal husbandry (pasturing and mowing), and perception of landscape and vegetation change An important part of traditional ecological knowledge is what herdsmen know about the history and dynamics of the landscape and its vegetation, and how they exploit the biomass of the steppes by pasturing and mowing. This knowledge is well applicable in vegetation science, nature conservation management and environmental education. Between 2008-2011 during 76 field days (and from 78 herdsmen) we asked the following questions: how herdsmen pasture and mow salt steppes? How they improve the quality of the pasture? Why and for how long has been the steppe salty? How landscape and vegetation looked like before the I. World War and how they changed since then? What they know about the development of the so-called szikár (little salt streams) and zsombékos (tussock sedge beds) habitats? When asking how a herdsman can improve the quality of pasture, most herdsmen answered: we can not do anything, but adding later many details how the fertilized, burnt the steppe, removed spiny plants etc. - i.e. they have a well developed methodology how to manage grasslands and marshes. They argue, that the salt steppe is of natural origin and developed long ago, but they know little about the landscape before the I. World War. Since they experienced the changes in the last decades they can describe them in detail, the most important one being the accummulation of litter, as a consequence of decreased stocking rates. Educated people have the same opinion, as in case of the development of the habitats szikár és zsombékos, though herdsmen have more personal experience, while educated people often rely on information learnt and heard.
