The legacy of ancient civilizations can support biodiversity conservation - Our new paper in Conservation Biology

Our newest paper about the importance of cultural values in the conservation of steppe grasslands has recently been published in Conservation Biology.

Deák, B., Bede, Á., Rádai, Z., Dembicz, I., Apostolova, I., Batáry, P., Gallé, R., Tóth, C.A., Dózsai, J., Moysiyenko, I., Sudnik-Wójcikowska, B., Zahwatowicz, M., Nekhrizov, G., Lisetskii, F., Buryak, Z.A., Kis, S., Borza, S., Godó, L., Bragina, T.M., Smelansky, I., Molnár, Á., Bán, M., Báthori, F., Árgay, Z., Dani, J., Kiss, R., Valkó, O. (2023): Contribution of cultural heritage values to steppe conservation on ancient burial mounds of Eurasia. Conservation Biology https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.14148

Ancient burial mounds built in historical times are not only important monuments of our historical heritage, but also act as refuge for steppe habitats and species. Despite their small size they often act as biodiverse spots in the landscape even though the landscape has been transformed to croplands or urban areas.

In our recent paper published in Conservation Biology we aimed to shed light on the connection of cultural values and biodiversity present on the mounds. For this we used a dataset containing more than one thousand kurgans distributed from Hungary to Mongolia.

We found that the conservation potential of the kurgans was highly supported by cultural values confined to the kurgans (such as ancient statues, medieval border marks, small churches, crosses or old cemeteries) that were important for the local communities. By protecting and maintaining cultural values people prevent intensive land use, and also ensure an extensive management for the grasslands on the mounds. By that indirectly they also maintain steppe habitats and species. This kind of protection is provided by the own willingness of the people (no legislative restrictions are needed), thus can be maintained in a sustainable way for a long time. This kind of protection connected to the presence of cultural values is especially important in intensively used landscapes, where the proportion of nature conservation reserves is extremely low. In these unprotected landscapes kurgans with cultural values can act as little steppe islands in the sea of the vast croplands.

Our paper can be accessed here.
And you can read a very interesting article published in the Anthropocene Magazine about our study.

Monumental statue and species-rich dry grassland on the Nagysándor-kurgan in Debrecen.

Abstract

Civilizations, including ancient ones, have shaped the global ecosystems in many ways through a co-evolution of landscapes and humans. However, the cultural legacies of ancient and lost civilizations are rarely considered in the conservation of the Eurasian steppe biome. Here using a dataset containing more than 1,000 data records on localities, land cover, protection status, and cultural values related to ancient steppic burial mounds (so-called ‘kurgans’), we evaluated how these iconic and widespread landmarks can contribute to grassland conservation in the Eurasian steppes, which is one of the most endangered biomes on Earth. Using Bayesian logistic generalized regressions and proportional odds logistic regressions, we aimed to reveal the potential of mounds in preserving grasslands considering landscapes with different levels of land use transformation. We also compared the conservation potential of mounds located inside and outside protected areas and assessed whether the presence of cultural values supports the maintenance of grasslands on them. We revealed that kurgans are of great importance in preserving grasslands in transformed landscapes outside protected areas, where they can act as habitat islands that contribute to habitat conservation and improve habitat connectivity. We found that in addition to the steep slopes that hinder ploughing, the existence of cultural values could almost double the chance of grassland occurrence on kurgans due to the extensive land use related, and the respect of local communities. As the estimated number of steppic mounds is about 600,000 and similar historical features exist in all continents, our results can be upscaled to a global level. Our results also suggest that an integrative socio-ecological approach in conservation might support the positive synergistic effects of conservational, landscape, and cultural values.

Seed Biology conference in Paris

The ISSS (International Society for Seed Science) international conference was recently held in Paris at the Sorbonne University. Seven members of our research group attended the event and presented seven posters.

 

We presented the following posters at the conference:

Sándor Borza et al.: Conservation values, ecosystem services, and disservices related to a large iconic bird species

Balázs Deák et al.: Establishment gaps in species-poor grasslands: sowing diverse seed mixtures and small-scale sward disturbance support the colonization of target species

Laura Godó et al.: Owl-mediated diploendozoochorous seed dispersal increases dispersal distance and supports seedling establishment

Réka Kiss et al.: Timing seed-sowing of grasses and forbs can support grassland restoration

Katalin Lukács et al.: Human-vectored seed dispersal: A potential threat to the flora of protected areas

Ágnes Tóth et al.: Vertical distribution of soil seed bank and the ecological importance of deeply buried seeds in alkaline grasslands

Orsolya Valkó et al.: Laundry washing can increase the dispersal efficiency of cloth-dispersed seeds.

With the conference, we visited the beautiful Vaux le Vicomte Castle.

Wildflower patch for pollinators in the centre of Paris in the Jardines des Plantes.

Our new review paper about the challenges and opportunities of grassland restoration on roadsides

In our latest article, we look at a special case of grassland habitat restoration: roadside verges.

Valkó, O., Fekete, R., Molnár V., A., Halassy, M., Deák, B. (2023): Roadside grassland restoration: Challenges and opportunities in the UN decade on ecosystem restoration. Current Opinion in Environmental Science and Health 34:100490. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coesh.2023.100490

The article is open access and can be downloaded from the journal homepage.

Why is grassland restoration important on roadsides? The global road network is more than 64 million km long and growing, with road verges occupying nearly 1% of the land area of developed countries. These are vast areas that are generally not suitable for industrial, agricultural, or other uses, and can provide opportunities for habitat restoration and establishing ecological corridors. The ideal situation for road managers is to establish a low-input, low-maintenance, permanent vegetation adapted to the habitat conditions on the roadside. In many biogeographical regions, roadside verges can provide suitable habitat for drought-tolerant grassland species native to the region, so a well-designed grassland restoration can be an ideal solution from both a conservation and a road management perspective. In the article, we highlight the synergies between these two approaches and the opportunities and constraints of grassland restoration in roadsides with native species. The specific habitat conditions of roadside verges and how grassland restoration on roadside verges differs from other grassland management interventions are discussed. We compare the success of seeding with commonly used commercial seed mixtures and with seed mixtures of native species, and suggest criteria for the selection of appropriate plant species, as well as key research areas to be investigated in the future.

Special characteristics of roadside environments. Photo credits: Attila  Molnár V. (A-G), Szabolcs Kis (H) and Réka Fekete (I)

Abstract

Restoring near-natural grasslands on roadsides is an excellent opportunity to support native biodiversity and provide ecosystem services that benefit the safety and functionality of road networks. Although several best practices and case studies are available on biodiversity-friendly roadside revegetation measures, their application is quite scarce, and, in practice, ecological aspects are rarely considered. To restore and preserve diverse and native roadside vegetation, we suggest (1) facilitating discussion, cooperation, and knowledge transfer between ecologists and agencies responsible for roadside vegetation management, (2) prioritizing the use of native plant species in roadside restoration and revegetation, as well as increasing regional capacities for native seed production, (3) supporting the application of biodiversity-friendly management practices of roadside vegetation, and (4) inventorying and conserving remnant semi-natural roadside grasslands.