GrassHabit – a LIFE project dedicated to the proper management of Pannonian

grasslands

Rebeka Szabó, E. Illyés, A. Horváth, Zs. Molnár, Zs. Szilvacsku, Á. Egyházy, Gy. Fülöp, B. Szabó, Sz. Rév, K. Sipos, T. Parrag, L. Viszló

The aims of the project� manage, restore and conserve different dry and semi-dry grassland habitats characteristic to the Pannonian region;

� gather available information on the management of Pannonian grasslands and its monitoring in a searchable database open for conservation society;� develop and disseminate best practise of grassland manegement to land managers an overall public.

2006 – 2010.

The project sites and their treatments

4. Tószegi pasture

Habitat type: Pannonic salt steppes

Management actions: water management, sheep grazing, sheep-fold rebuilding, increase of the sheep-herd

3. Darányi- borókás

Habitat type: Pannonic acidic sandy grassland and juniper-oak woodland

Management actions: sheep grazing, increase of the sheep-herd, cutting of old junipers and invasive trees(Prunus serotina)

5. Vértesboglári grasslands

Habitat type: Pannonic slope steppe

Management actions: sheep grazing, increase of the sheep-herd, mowing, shrub elimination, dirt road elimination

1. Leányvári loess-valley

Habitat type: Pannonic loess steppe

Management actions: grassland restoration on neighbouring agricultural field, invasion control by mowing

2. Nagydorogi Szenes-pasture

Habitat type: Pannonic sandy grassland

Management actions: directed sheep grazing, sheep-fold renovation, mowing

6. Bels�bárándi loess-valley

Habitat type: Pannonic loess steppe

Management actions: directed grazing, slight mowing, experimental burning, grassland restoration as buffer zone, invasion control

Monitoring

The role of proper documentation and monitoring is crucial for determining the effectiveness of different management methods and developing the „best practise” for each Pannonian grassland types. Thus, standardized monitoring methods were developed for all sites based on comparison of managed and control plots. For detecting the effect of grazing and mowing, plots of 12 x 12 m were railed off thus excluded from the actual management in each vegetation type. The structural and compositional changes of the vegetation is followed by regular classical coenological and microcoenological sampling methods. Different animal taxons are monitored as well, for instance birds, snails, spiders, grasshoppers, butterflies, ants and ground beetles.

Results of the first year (2006)

LIFE05NAT/HU/000117

� set-up of the scientific monitoring

� taking vegetation and soil samples as baseline data prior to the new management

� infrastructural investments has been accomplished in order to provide proper conditions for the management actions: purchase of machinery, renovation of folds, increase of the number of livestock

� management actions were carried out according to the aspects of nature conservation and traditional farming: mowing, grazing, burning, shrub elimination, repression of invasive plants

Mowing of invasive plants in Leányvár

Machine for shrub elimination in Vértesboglár

Sheep growth in Darány Burned plot in Bels�báránd

Grazing in Nagydorog

� organising workshops and forums for nature conservation experts and land-use practitioners about the achievement possibilities of the sustainable grassland management

� creating an on-line forum about the professional and management-type questions of nature conservation treatments www.grasshabit.hu

Mowing exclusion