Thesis supervisor: Endre Domokos
Location of studies (in Hungarian): University of Pannonia, Faculty of Engineering, Sustainability Solutions Research Lab Abbreviation of location of studies: PE MK
Description of the research topic:
Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) or Indigenous Knowledge is defined as the knowledge acquired by indigenous and local people for sustainable use of local resources, over hundreds or thousands of years through direct contact with the environment, while ethnobiology is the cross-cultural study of how people perceive and manipulate their environments. It has traditionally focused on linguistic analyses of terms for plants, animals, habitats, and other ecological phenomena in attempts to reveal underlying structures of the human mind that influence human behavior. Now the focus of ethnobiology is most often the study of traditional land-use practices and sustainable use of resources.
The main objectives of this research work include:
- to investigate TEK of herders about wild plants – e.g. local names, habitat-preference, ecology, forage quality;
- to investigate and characterize key pasture types defined by local herders and define key forage species perceived by local herders in the studied region (botanical surveys and interviewing herders);
- describing pasture types and forage species in scientific terms (ecology, agricultural sciences and ethnoecology) by documenting local understandings and knowledge of pasture types and key forage species;
- to discuss those practices and knowledge in detail that can help improve productivity and ecosystem functions of rangelands in the region and conserve their biodiversity.
Required language skills: English Number of students who can be accepted: 1
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