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Conflicts caused by reintroduced native species are increasing; however, there is a knowledge gap concerning ecological knowledge and perception of local community members regarding the impact of these species on local ecosystem services and livelihoods. We studied local knowledge about beavers and the perception of their impact on ecosystem services and local livelihoods, and the perception of their general harmfulness and usefulness in Hungary and Romania in three ecologically distinct, diverse rural landscapes. Structured interviews were carried out with 45 knowledgeable and 45 randomly selected local informants. We found that locals were knowledgeable about legal status, biology and behavior of beavers and their diverse impact on nature and ecosystem services. Perceptions included mostly negative impacts on provisioning services, while both negative and positive impacts on regulating and cultural services were perceived, including some contradictory impacts of the species. In spite of the actual and anticipated potential future harms caused by beavers, most people appreciated its precise building mastery and 'cute' nature. We argue that communication between nature conservationists and locals should reflect this complexity of perceptions, while reciprocal learning could help to moderate local conflicts and develop adaptive management strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Use of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) is often recommended to relieve knowledge deficit in conservation. However, studies on traditional knowledge of threatened species are scarce, especially in Europe. Twenty-three interviews about 20 threatened plant species (name, habitat, flowering time, human use, population trends, causes of decline or growth) were conducted in each of the two contrasting landscapes, traditional in Romania (Gyimes), abandoned in Hungary (Zala). Amount of knowledge relevant to conservation was less than expected. Habitat and flowering time was known the best, and causes of population decline and growth the least. Better known plants had richer TEK on their dynamics (65% of species in Gyimes, and 35% in Zala). We documented many cases of positive and negative effects of manuring, fertilization, eradication, grazing, mowing, picking, drought, succession, and abandonment. Most knowledge originated from personal experience, and shared knowledge seemed to be limited. Knowledge deficiency may be explained by the stability of the landscape, and the ignorance of many threatened species by locals in Gyimes (lack of knowledge), and by the abandonment of traditional land use and ignorance in Zala (loss of knowledge). We argue that substantial TEK on threatened species may be expected for those species that have been utilized as a resource or have hindered the utilization of a resource. We argue that TEK can provide relevant information to conservation less at the population, and more at the habitat and landscape level. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background: Traditional habitat knowledge is an understudied part of traditional knowledge. Though the number of studies increased world-wide in the last decade, this knowledge is still rarely studied in Europe. We document the habitat vocabulary used by Csángó people, and determine features they used to name and describe these categories. Study area and methods: Csángó people live in Gyimes (Carpathians, Romania). The area is dominated by coniferous forests, hay meadows and pastures. Animal husbandry is the main source of living. Data on the knowledge of habitat preference of 135 salient wild plant species were collected (2908 records, 44 interviewees). Data collected indoors were counterchecked during outdoor interviews and participatory field work. Results: Csángós used a rich and sophisticated vocabulary to name and describe habitat categories. They distinguished altogether at least 142-148 habitat types, and named them by 242 habitat terms. We argue that the method applied and the questions asked ('what kind of place does species X like?') helped the often implicit knowledge of habitats to be verbalized more efficiently than usual in an interview. Habitat names were highly lexicalized and most of them were widely shared. The main features were biotic or abiotic, like land-use, dominant plant species, vegetation structure, successional stage, disturbance, soil characteristics, hydrological, and geomorphological features. Csángós often used indicator species (28, mainly herbaceous taxa) in describing habitats of species. To prevent reduction in the quantity and/or quality of hay, unnecessary disturbance of grasslands was avoided by the Csángós. This could explain the high number of habitats (35) distinguished dominantly by the type and severity of disturbance. Based on the spatial scale and topological inclusiveness of habitat categories we distinguished macro-, meso-, and microhabitats. Conclusions: Csángó habitat categories were not organized into a single hierarchy, and the partitioning was multidimensional. Multidimensional description of habitats, made the nuanced characterization of plant species' habitats possible by providing innumerable possibilities to combine the most salient habitat features. We conclude that multidimensionality of landscape partitioning and the number of dimensions applied in a landscape seem to depend on the number of key habitat gradients in the given landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Wetland habitat quality indicators of conservationists and herders were compared. • Key indicators were tested along a gradient of ungrazed to heavily grazed sites. • There were no key indicators where the two groups had opposing preferred trends. • Vegetation height, shrub and litter cover decreased with grazing intensity. • Forage grasses and frequency of rare mud species increased with grazing intensity. Wetland grazing by livestock, once widespread throughout Europe, is increasingly used in conservation management. To avoid conflicts and enable cooperation between wetland users and conservationists, habitat quality indicators relevant to both stakeholder groups would be useful. We aimed to identify which indicators of grazed wetland habitat quality are important to the two groups, and which are the preferred trends for these indicators along a grazing intensity gradient. We conducted free listing interviews with 15 conservationists and 15 herders to identify the key indicators of well managed, extensively grazed wetland habitats. To check the practical ecological relevance of these indicators, vegetation surveys were performed along a gradient from ungrazed to heavily grazed stands (45 sites) in three countries: Hungary, Romania and Serbia. Positive trends for herders included increases in useful forage grasses and decreases in tall-growing marsh species; for conservationists, increases in wetland birds, protected and threatened plant species, habitat heterogeneity, and patches of open vegetation were all positive. Grazed marshes had lower vegetation cover and height, less litter cover and fewer shrubs. The proportion of open surfaces and the frequency of rare mud species and protected species increased along the grazing intensity gradient. As grazing intensified, 73% of the 15 vegetation attributes assigned to the indicators changed in a 'positive' direction, half of them significantly, showing the benefits of extensive but patchy heavy grazing. Despite differences in perceived benefits, there were no opposing preferred trends for any of the studied indicators, so patchy, occasionally and locally intense or heavy wetland grazing by livestock in these landscapes was beneficial for herding and conservation alike. In the situation of mosaic-like, carefully herded extensive grazing, there was no trade-off between conservation management and utilisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]