Landscape ethnoecological knowledge base and management of ecosystem services in a Székely-Hungarian pre-capitalistic village system (Transylvania, Romania)

The study area is located in the Székelyföld region of Transylvania, Romania (12 800 km², coordinates: 45°32’- 47°09’ N; 24°24’- 26°26’ E, Figure 1). From the legal historical viewpoint, Székelyföld is the sum of those areas where Székely (pronounced as Se: kei) law was determinative. Like some other mountainous regions of Europe (cf. [36]), the region formed a relatively stable social-ecological system from late medieval times until the Second World War [37]. Small-scale, traditional agriculture was retained in many places, even during socialism (1945–1989).

The western part of the study area belongs to the Erdélyi-Mezőség (a highland region, 300–500 metres above sea level, covered by Pannonian and Sarmata deposits), the eastern part belongs to the Eastern Carpathians (a mountainous area, 700–2300 metres above sea level with crystalline bedrocks, flysch and neogene volcanic surfaces). The two main rivers of the region are the Maros (Mureş) and Olt (Olt). Climate is moderately continental with short summers and long winters. The annual mean temperature ranges from 4 to 7°C, the annual precipitation is 500–700 mm in the highland areas and basins and 1000–1200 mm in the mountains. Forests still cover ca. 35–40% of the area. By the 20^th century, most oak forests, many beech and some spruce forests had been replaced by arable fields, pastures and meadows. The highland areas are dominated by Fagus sylvatica, Quercus petraea and Carpinus betulus forests, whereas mountainous areas are covered by Picea abies and Fagus sylvatica. Tilia cordata, Fraxinus excelsior and Acer spp. are also widespread (Figure 2). Above ca. 1500–1700 metres, subalpine grasslands and shrubs are typical. Many grassland types and patches in Transylvania are species-rich. Some of the most species-rich dry grasslands in the world [38] and mountainous hay meadows in Europe (80–85 vascular species per 16 m²; [39]) are to be found in the region. The main crops of the region are potato and maize. After the building of the railway network in the late 19^th century, spruce timber became an important export good. The 52 villages examined, and for which information on village laws was available, are scattered throughout the Székelyföld region.

Székelys form a Hungarian ethnic group that has lived in this area for at least a millenium. The time period examined in this study (1581–1847) covers the last two and a half centuries of feudalism, namely, the pre-capitalistic period. During this period, most Székelys lived in self-governed village communities. Villages were composed of three main social classes: the upper class with the highest social position comprised the highest nobles (called primor), having moderately-sized estates and owning land in several different villages. They constituted ca. 3 % of Székely society. The second group comprised the lower nobles: constituting ca. 50-60% of the population. These had “noble peasant” status (not paying tax, having rights to elect local village leaders etc.) and served the king as soldiers, providing also services (e.g. food and accommodation) for the army during periods of both war and peace. They are also called the free Székelys. The third major social class was formed of outlawed, farming serfs who had to pay taxes.

At the turn of the 15-16^th centuries, human population of the Székelyföld region was ca. 70 000 [40], i.e. ca. 5 people/km², which increased to 15/km² by 1786 and to 24/km² by 1850/1851 [41]. In 1651, on average, 51 families lived in a Székely village [42]. In contrast to Western Europe, the latifundium mainly consisted of scattered lands in Székelyföld. In most cases, the three main social classes shared different proportions of the Székely village-territory. A significant part of the territory was owned by free Székelys. The structure of the society was relatively stable during the 270 years examined [42]. In 1614, 53% of the population was free Székely, 25% was serf, while in 1844/1847, 52% of the population was free Székely and 22% was serf [37].

In the Székely self-government system, the village itself elected its own leader, who was himself controlled by the village community. The task of the elected leader was the organization of the village and its commons (e.g. forest use, grazing, arable farming). The leader was required to make the village community undertake public work and to keep order and discipline. In a Székely village, there was usually constant competition for public benefits, legitimacy, material welfare and positions of power in society. The village community could possess common estate and obtain income, punish collectively, take action or organize village meetings.

In Székelyföld, personal freedom was generally considered of little importance. However collective freedom (freedom of the whole village community) was relatively high. The state had little direct power over individuals compared with neighbouring countries. Village communities were able to buffer against the local impacts of regional/national driving forces [5].

During the 17-18^th centuries, the agricultural techniques of the Székelys were similar to those found in many other European countries. Data show that the 18^th century agricultural revolution of Western Europe had not reached the region until the mid 19^th century [5]. Since there were just a few large seigniorial domains, small-scale farming played a significant role in agriculture (Table 1). The nobleman’s domain neither became a model nor played a significant role in the changing of traditional practices [5]. Since Székelys were averse to change, development of cultivation techniques was very slow. This is also evidenced by the long (often unchanged for over 100 years) survival of individual village laws [5].

The household was the working unit, while the village community was the institution that oversaw the entire cultivation system.

In the 16^th century, hereditary estates began to spread, but even at the end of the 18^th century, community land ownership of arable fields, hay meadows, pastures and forests was common in Székelyföld [5]. Owners with higher social position and major personal estate could possess a larger proportion of common arable field, meadow and acorn yield, but had no greater timber rights than others in the prohibited forests [5]. Lack of timber and firewood occurred in many villages, but the distribution of shortage was unequal. According to data from 1808 for a subregion of Székelyföld (Udvarhelyszék), community members were allowed to clear forests in 32 villages, clearing was prohibited in 70 villages (where forests/wood were in sufficient supply), and there was a shortage of satisfactory trees in 26 villages [5].

During the 19^th century, forests and pastures were not separated from each other. The border of adjacent villages was also often not strictly defined, especially in the more mountainous areas. Until the 19^th century, Székelys owned common regions (called “havas”, meaning alps, mostly subalpine forest-grassland mosaics) on which every settlement could have a claim. Production for the markets started mainly in these common forests at the end of the 18^th century [5].

Until the late 18^th century, the two-field system was dominant in Székelyföld. In this system, arable and fallow fields were rotated annually. Fields of a village were arranged into an arable and a fallow block. Fallows were grazed. Owing to the extensive hinterland, this form of agriculture was more favourable for animal husbandry (mainly cattle, sheep, horse and pig) [5]. Fodder production on arable land was almost absent.

In 1870, the proportions of land-use types in Kászon (a subregion of Székelyföld) was as follows: 41% forest, 31% hay meadow, 18% arable land, 8% pasture, 2.5% non-used land [42]. Forest cover of Székelyföld, as estimated by Szabó on the basis of the First Military Survey, was approx. 47–48 % at the end of the 18^th century [43].

Near the villages, sessile oak forests with hornbeam and beech forests dominated. Pastures, fallow land, forests and hay meadows were used for grazing. Fences prevented free movement and grazing by livestock. Székelys left stubble about a span tall so that weeds could regenerate rapidly, resulting in high quality pastures. As a result of grazing, fallow lands became manured and after 2–3 ploughings, weed density had decreased.

Wheat, barley and oats were the main arable crops. Maize and potato appeared only at the end of the 18^th century [5]. There were fruit trees in the gardens and forests, and sometimes grape vines were cultivated on warm hillsides. The intensity of manuring was much less than it was in Western Europe. On average, the Székely household owned ca. 5 livestock units. These animals were kept in the stable or barn from December until February, and produced only ca. 12–13 carts of manure. This amount of manure was not sufficient even for 0.5 hectare of arable land [5]. Rather than cart out manure from the stable, manure production by the corralling of sheep overnight predominated. In the second half of the 18^thcentury, the frequency of manuring a single parcel of land was generally once every 6–8 years. During the intervening period, the land was left fallow 3–4 times. Stable manure was only rarely applied to hay meadows [44].

The first written village laws were produced in Zalán and Gyergyóújfalu (Zǎlan and Suseni) in 1581. The last village law was written in 1847. At the time of framing these laws, Székelys thought that they had already been in force for much longer [5]. This means that oral forms (perhaps even written forms) of these laws were already common before this time. Some of the centuries-old Székely laws survived until present and are still used in pasture and forest commons, as in other European countries (e.g. Italy, Portugal, Sweden, Scotland, France, Spain, the Netherlands) where commons have also survived until present [33, 45‐47].

Village laws laid down the will and intention of local community members from generation to generation. Village laws were written down by local or appointed clerks, but the regulations were framed and approved by the whole community. Székelys believed that an adequate village law must be both old enough and sufficiently projected into the future [5]. There was no unified Székely village law; all of them were unique, but because of similarities in terms of landscapes, societies and economics, they have much in common. Village laws were announced from time to time, mainly for the sake of new community members [5]. In Western Europe, community rule-making and jurisdiction had already been suppressed by the 16^th century. However Székelys started to commit their ancient laws to writing at that time. Székelys often emphasized in their laws that the judge could only make decisions “with the support of the community”.

A typical Székely village law consisted of 2–5 pages comprising 5–20 short or long regulations. In the first introductory part, the Székely people stated the intention of the law. Here, they usually referred to respect for ancestors and inherited responsibility. This part was followed by the regulations which referred not only to the use of forests, grasslands, arable fields etc. studied in this paper, but to other spheres of village life, such as the punishment of criminals, obligation of the judge, the order of fire-fighting and postal service etc. In the last part, some community members would testify about the accuracy of the law and the consensus of the villagers.

It is important to emphasize that the laws of each village were based entirely on local, inside knowledge of the communities: they were based on former written and oral laws, customs and common laws and the perception of changing conditions. There is no evidence that the laws were copies or that they were adapted from those of other villages. Terms used in village laws testify to their independence [5].

During the Enlightenment, the Habsburg Monarchy deliberately reduced village self-government. However, by the second half of the 18^th century, the Monarchy had still not been able to dominate local village life. Although state forest law already existed (1781), it was only partly effective in this region. By the 19^th century, the system of village community had become obsolete and a hindrance to the process of modernization. Nevertheless, open-field systems could be seen in many places until the commencement of World War II.

When collecting data, we used printed publications as sources of village laws. These included: “The self-regulating Transylvanian village” [5] and “Order in the Transylvanian village” [14]. We examined every village law published in these volumes (52 Székely villages, 72 village laws). Laws were written during the 16-19^th century in a form of the Hungarian language that is still comprehensible today. We grouped and interpreted regulations according to the categories of the DPSIR framework, sorted them into a table, and then encoded and aggregated the data.

We used the DPSIR framework to understand, analyse and quantify the Székely social-ecological system in its complexity. The DPSIR framework was developed by the European Environmental Agency (EEA) in 1999 in order to be used as a general platform for environmental data collection, categorization and dissemination [48]. According to Bürgi et al. [49], the DPSIR framework is particularly useful for the evaluation of planning processes.

We paid particular attention to any ecological information that emerged either explicitly or implicitly from village laws and to the tacit traditional ecological knowledge. We collected the local folk names of every animal and plant species, the categories of folk habitats, habitat mosaics, types of forest and grassland uses and we analyzed the ecological context of the regulations. The latter was supported by our botanical and ethnoecological studies that have been conducted in this region since 2000 [39, 50].

Since it was the contemporary landscape ethnoecological knowledge that formed the focus of our attention, we did not reconstruct the actual monetary value of the punishments that were meted out (e.g. Florints, Florenis, Flor., Denars). The value of the currency might have also changed throughout the 17-18^th centuries [5].

The DPSIR concept has been widely used for documenting and understanding environmental problems and developing preservation strategies [51, 52], and rarely for analyzing historical landscape management systems [53]. Driving forces in the DPSIR framework are forces that elicit and define those human activities that relate to the use of landscapes and ecosystem services. The main driving forces can be socio-economic, political, technological, natural and cultural [49], and can be global, regional or local in scale. In our study, we paid particular attention to the local social demands (see also [26, 29, 54]). Driving forces result in different pressures. Our study focuses on pressures relating to human activities, such as clearing and management of forests, use of pastures and hay meadows, arable lands and water, in general the use of ecosystem services. The state of the natural environment may change in response to pressures. Species composition, dominant species, tree age and density, nutritional value of the grass cover and soil fertility all reflect the quality of ecosystems. Impact is usually perceived as a reduction or a shortage of ecosystem services (e.g. less timber) caused by changes to the environment. This encourages the community to respond. These responses are intended to solve reductions and shortages caused by pressure-induced changes.

For the appropriate use of the DPSIR framework, it was essential to understand the meaning behind certain passages thoroughly. Hence for the analysis, we used the footnotes and writings of Imreh and other contemporary source publications (eg. statistics, litigious cases, village community decrees, decisions and resolutions; [5, 14, 37, 40‐42, 44]).

We quantified not only driving forces relating to pressures, but also driving forces relating to responses. While the former is defined as the demand of the active executor of a certain pressure action (e.g. cutting of a tree for personal use), the latter is defined as the demand of the community (e.g. preserving large enough tracts of forests for future use by the community). This is not about driving forces on a personal and community scale (cf. [54]), rather the judgement of a certain action can differ for each of the two social scales. As the statements were often partly implicit owing to the concise framing of village laws, we reconstructed both implicit and explicit driving forces.

We divided the responses into two main groups: (1) responses limiting the use and supporting the regeneration of ecosystem services; and (2) responses that protect produced/available ecosystem services from theft and destruction, thus ensuring their fair distribution among community members.

As well as presenting a quantitative analysis of our database, we show the style and ecological content of village laws, together with original quotations.

Finally, we reconstructed all types of landscape ethnoecological knowledge that appeared either explicitly or implicitly in Székely village laws according to DPSIR categories. Knowledge related to obtaining and managing ecosystem services was considered to be Pressure-related knowledge. Knowledge related to the perceived usefulness of ecosystems was considered to be Impact-related knowledge, that is, knowledge resulting from State-related knowledge and monitoring, which helps in recognizing actual or potential changes in the condition of resources. Indeed, for appropriate interpretation of impacts, it was necessary for villagers to recognize what the exploitable ecosystem services actually were and which ecosystem services or functions had diminished or were about to diminish.

Response-related ecological knowledge was considered to be the knowledge related to the maintenance, regeneration, and the prevention of deterioration of ecosystem functions and services used by the community. Finally, we considered as Driving force-related the knowledge that informed decisions on what expectations and demands for ecosystem services could be met by the landscape.

Village laws contained a total of 22 different types of driving forces. The most important driving forces were local: requirements for timber and firewood, food, forage and hay (Table 3).

The relationship of pressure- and response-related driving forces, i.e. the competition for ecosystem services is shown in Figure 4. Data show that conflicts mainly relating to the grazing of green crops and standing hay, as well as overuse of forests, must have been regulated in 16-19^th century Székely villages (Figure 4).

Some 56% of the 930 pressure-related driving forces (both implicit and explicit) were related to the feeding of animals (Table 3, entries 11, 12) and 11% was due to the food demands of humans (Table 3, entry 13). Another 24% indicated the need for wood for self-sufficiency (Table 3, entry 1). Financial needs (market and trade) formed a relatively small proportion (only 5.6%) of driving forces (Table 3, entry 22). Almost 40% of the need for wood was explicitly specified in the laws (e.g. timber, firewood, tools, stripping or broom making, Table 3, entries 1–10). In total, we found 55 different uses for wood.

States and impacts of ecosystem functions and ecosystem services, as well as changes to these, were rarely mentioned in village laws (only 2 state and 40 impact records, respectively).

Explicitly mentioned impacts related mainly to the excessive decline in forests and pastures: “forests are so overused that shortly, it will not even be possible to find firewood in our forests”; “Despite our old laws, the beech-covered peaks inherited from our forefathers have almost been destroyed…unless we forsee these problems (and act accordingly), we shall neither find timber nor firewood in these forests”; “If ring-barking of forests continues, we will have to obtain the required wood from other villages.”; “the area for cattle pasture is too small”; “due to the overuse of forests…because of fallen trees, cattle and sheep could not graze freely”.

Despite the scarcity of explicit state records, we found many different local folk names for habitats, animals and plants in village laws (Tables 5 and 6). We found 71 different folk names for habitats (including vegetation types, vegetation-related land-cover and land-use categories, 676 records). Habitat categories named after a (dominant) plant species were only found in the case of forests and arable lands (e.g. beech forest, wheat stubble) (Table 5).

In total, we found only 4 names for wild animals and 12 for wild plant species (13 and 77 records, respectively). There was no mention of Acer and Tilia species or shrubs in village laws (Table 6).

While domectic animals were often mentioned (sheep 45 records, goat 13, ox 24, cattle 167, milk cow/calf 9, horse 20, pig 15, goose 3), cultivated plants were mentioned less frequently (wheat 14 records, maize 11, oats 4, poppy 8, pea 11, onion 1, cabbage 2, potato 2, hemp 4, lentil 2, bean 4, squash 1, fodder beet 1).

Most of the responses related to forests (Table 7). Székelys had many ways of protecting their forests (Table 7). Often, certain wood states (Table 7, entry 1) and species (Table 7, entry 2) were gathered or felled in certain amounts (Table 7, entry 4) on certain dates (Table 7, entry 3) and for certain purposes (Table 7, entry 12), but only after permission had been granted (Table 7, entry 6). Marketing (Table 7, entry 8) and use by outsiders (Table 7, entry 9) were often strictly regulated. Valuable forests were occasionally managed: nursing oak trees, thinning poorly grown beeches and shrubs, thinning out dense forests, removing useless wood from forests.

In the case of pastures, regulations focused on seasonal rhythms, the quality of forage and the ranking of different animals (by species, age, state). Furthermore, Székely people also took the nature of the property (private or common) and the remoteness of the place into consideration. Grazed forests were protected against goats and the cutting of leaf-fodder. The least number of responses was found in the case of fallows (Table 7); uncropped parts were grazed relatively freely. In the case of hay meadows, Székely people attempted to prevent the grazing, trampling down and stealing of hay.

In regulations relating to green crops, the prevention of direct stealing and damage caused by trampling and grazing played a major role. Here, different punishments were meted out according to the species, age and sex of the grazing animal, as well as to the circumstances (accidental or deliberate) and place of grazing [5].

Haywards, who protected crops, hay and trees, played an important role in the enforcement of rules (Table 7, entry 22). Over the years, every member of the community had to honour this commitment, with 4–20 guards protecting these resources, both by night and day [5]. If someone resisted doing his duty, he would be fined and forced to fulfil his responsibility. If haywards could not present the offender who had caused the damage, they had to pay for the latter. Haywards were paid both a wage and a reward (one- or two-thirds of the fine!) [5].

The most common form of punishment used for the regulation of pressures was a penalty (Table 8), but compensation and distraint were also common. Physical punishment, arrest, decimation, payment in kind and being banned from the use of the ecosystem service occurred rarely. Intentional and repeated damage or damage caused by outsiders were punished more strictly. The penalty was often considerable; it could be as much as half the price of an ox.

The main (often explicit) purpose of the framing of the Székely village laws was to promote the reproduction and regeneration of ecosystem services and to prevent shortage in these services. A strong sense of “self-awareness” can be seen in village laws. Székelys drew up regulations for themselves, introduced prohibitions and ordered behaviour and type of activity based on their ancient values in order to keep in check the selfishness of individuals [5]. Székelys argued that a long past and local framing legitimized the laws. The variables often encountered in functioning commons (e.g. collective-choice rules, leadership, norms/social capital and knowledge of the social-ecological system, [7]) were also present in our system, though we did not analyse these in detail.

Written regulations were regularly adjusted as environment and society changed (cf. adaptive management [56]) and were often improved as new situations arose. Sometimes the Székelys framed new laws: “Human thoughts are changing, thus laws must change; it is necessary to adapt them to fit the spirit of the times” [5].

The ecological knowledge and wisdom of previous generations were often incorporated and cited by explicitly referring to the positive or negative experiences of ancestors. In several cases, Székely people openly mentioned also the needs of the following generations in their village laws (“The forest called Akasztófa will never again be sold but will be grown on for the next generation.”). Imreh argues that the aim of village laws was “to create states that provide safety through constancy for the next generations” [5]. Székely villagers were motivated and forced to become more moderate, careful and self-controlled [19].

The remarkably fine-tuned regulations were diverse in form. The common forms of responses were prohibitions, restrictions and activities that could be done only with permission. In our particular case, the three main fields of regulation of commons (cf. [8‐10]) were also noticeable, namely: restrictions on grazing, limiting the felling of trees and regulating water supplies and sources. Székely village communities were controlled systems based on punishments similar to their Western European counterparts [9, 10, 13, 15]. The fine and conscious regulation of private and common properties in village laws is illustrated by the planter of fruit trees: these not only had the right to the produce of the tree, but retained this right even after the field had changed hands [5].

Responses restricting the use and supporting the regeneration of ecosystem services and responses protecting produced/available ecosystem services and ensuring their fair distribution among community members also illustrate awareness of regulations and a deep understanding of ecological processes. The fine-tuned adaptation of regulations to changing social and environmental conditions necessitated constant monitoring of the state of the environment. In most cases, Székelys were not short of some ecosystem services, whereas in others, the shortage did not cause any problems (e.g. fungi, certain wild fruits, wild game, fish in several cases). These were not regulated by village laws. It is interesting that spruce and the regulation of its use were never mentioned in village laws.

In our opinion, the reason for the low number of state records in village laws was that it was necessary only to express those states in village laws that had strong negative effects on the community. Although it is possible to identify and quantify impacts without any positive or negative connotations, merely simply by recording a change, we discovered that only strong negative impacts had been recorded. Thus, the list of explicitly-stated impacts gave a distorted picture, since only really dramatic situations requiring state reinforcement were recorded in village laws. However, implicit reference to impacts was common: e.g. there was/there would be insufficient timber, firewood, forage, fodder, fish for the future.

During the 270 years examined, the strength of regulations relating to forests, hay meadows and arable land-use increased [5]. This tightening of regulations usually related to overexploitation caused by trade and to the intensification of agriculture, which was becoming increasingly privately owned. Village laws show a remarkably interwoven and carefully organized system of cultivation. The village community made decisions about which plant should be cultivated and where, the time at which a community member was compelled to undertake certain agricultural activities and when and which part of the village territory was to be used for or protected from grazing.

Many regulations showed that there was serious competition for ecosystem services. Personal and communal interests conflicted. For example, the use of slowly regenerating wood conflicted with the short-term use of forage and leaf-fodder, whereas, in other cases, green crops and hay were protected from grazing for personal goals. Data showed that village laws could effectively restrict the destructive impact of grazing on communal forest land. Clearing of forests that resulted in an increase in the area of arable land and hay meadows was supported by the community, but clearing for personal purposes was prohibited or, at least, strictly limited. Communities limited seigniorial clearings above all. According to many village laws, trees could not be sold to outsiders. However, commoditization of resources spread during the late 18^th century and, as a consequence, the areas of village forests in close proximity to big towns and markets had diminished considerably by the 19^th century [5].

Village regulations gave a long list of forest uses. The large number of uses recorded (55 types) is comparable to the 50–90 types of wood products found by Johann [29] for Austria and the 61 types of forest uses documented by Bürgi et al. [57] for Switzerland.

During the 19^th century, the Székely village community endeavoured to resist the expansion of the Monarchy administrative system. The interests of the Habsburg Monarchy and that of the Székely communities were different: while the Monarchy would seek to transform forests close to the village into taxable arable land, communities sought to sustain them as forests [5]. The Székelys argued that they could protect ecosystem services using locally framed laws and regulate their use [5].

Székelys aimed for fine-tuned forest use by promoting regeneration and by maximizing the felling of trees. The awareness of laws is shown by the many explicit messages that refer to long-term changes in forest quality. Their goal was to provide wood for the “rest” (next generations) in the long run, and to promote continuous renewal of the forests, while keeping them suitable for grazing (free forests were grazed relatively freely). The main goal was to suppress private grazing which could cause further damage. The grazing of livestock in herds was easier to organize and control [5]. Regeneration of valuable forests was promoted not only by instituting prohibitions over their use, but sometimes even by active forest management. Modern methods of forest regeneration, e.g. renewal of forests from seed or the introduction of alien tree species were, however, never mentioned. We found that the most frequently mentioned problematic pressure was the felling of oak. According to village laws, oak was the most valued tree, as it was in many other regions of Europe [9, 13, 15, 33, 35]. Székelys, by means of their laws, sought to substitute the felling of oak with that of less valued species (spruce, beech, dead trees and certain pioneer species). Also, the presence of hornbeam may have required special attention during the regeneration of oak forests, as hornbeam could outcompete oak when regeneration was poor (cf. [58]). Felling of spruce forests was never regulated explicitly. These forests were mainly far from villages, mostly in the subalpine regions, and were still common during the 17-18^th centuries.

Management of pastures and meadows was less regulated. The main goal of village laws was to reduce overuse near villages and prevent theft (working in the fields was a good pretext to feed the animals and on some occasions, people deliberately drove their cattle, with silenced bell, into cereal fields, while drawing aside and pretending not to do so intentionally [5]). Spring-time cleaning of hay meadows (e.g. collection of leaf litter and twigs, removal of ant hills – a common practice nowadays in the region, [39]) was not mentioned in village laws. Although sheep yielded significant profit [5], the more valuable grasslands were protected from them. In adapting to local conditions, sheep were pastured in subalpine regions, where grass was poorer.

In the 18^th century, one grain of wheat, on average, yielded three grains [5]. Thus, it is conceivable that under these circumstances both theft and prevention of theft were equally important. Regulation of theft and other forms of improper behaviour demonstrated that at a personal level, Székelys were less moderate, whereas village law regulations indicated that at the community level, long-term thinking was dominant.

In summary, we conclude that Székelys framed responses by adapting well to the local, slowly changing internal and external driving forces, i.e. they applied adaptive management [56]. Imreh argues, however, that by the 19^th century, the open two-field system framework had become too strong [5]. The strictly applied common organization of agricultural activities gave little room for a higher degree of adaptive management based on individual needs (e.g. more optimal manuring of arable lands for more efficient maintenance of soil fertility).

Increased marketing and trading at the end of the 18^th century onwards, as well as financial needs, resulted in communities dividing common land: “land was no longer a working birthright and the source of food for families, and that which maintained communities. Lands became properties that caused their owners to drift with business-like thoughts and money-making aims towards market” [5].

Székelys regulated the use of ecosystem services on five spatial scales: individual trees (fruit trees and trees in prohibited forests), the plant community (mostly in the case of forests), the habitat mosaic (especially in arable-grassland and grassland-forest mosaics), the village territory (inner and outer parts of the territory) and sometimes even on a broader scale (common territories of several villages).

The village territory provided the space in which the life of the Székely village took place, and thus, where its regulations applied (landscape ecological scale). The ‘ecosystem’ (sensu [36, 59]) was therefore the basic unit of management.

Regulations showed that the balance of land-cover categories was fine-tuned. For example, the clearing of forests near the village and the conversion of pastures into hay meadows was not permitted. We argue that Székelys regulated consciously the proportion of arable land, pasture, meadow and forest area at this landscape ecological scale in order to maximize the long-term exploitation of ecosystem services provided by the local landscape. There are data available on similar optimized land-use structures from other regions of the Carpathian Basin dating from the Middle Ages [32]. We found that management on an even coarser spatial scale was also present in some cases, e.g. in common forests and common alps of several villages, and transhumance by Romanian herdsmen.

Areas near the village reached and sometimes exceeded their full capacity, but there were also reserves (sometimes significant) in the outer territory. Knowledge relating to the limits of exploitation was essential in regulating land-use type and intensity. The main spatial scale was the habitat mosaic. Areas dominated by arable land, oak forests and grasslands with high productivity near the village differed from that dominated by mountain spruce forests and subalpine outer pastures. A fundamental principle of the regulations was to protect the inner territory against overuse, and to relocate certain uses to the outer territory (cf. [33]). For example, herdsmen had to “go far away”; subalpine pastures were often leased out to herdsmen from neighbouring villages; inner forests and pastures were more subject to prohibition; the ring-barking of trees was often permitted in the outer forests, but not close to the village. Székelys also fine-tuned the grazing of subalpine regions and inner pastures: livestock was sent to the subalpine regions as soon as they could be grazed there and could only return when there was insufficient grass on the mountains. Thus, biomass exploitation of the inner and outer sub-systems was connected. Furthermore, Székely people protected hay meadows embedded in fallows, grasslands embedded in arable lands and hay meadows located between grazed forests. The importance of the habitat mosaic scale was shown also by the 71 different types of habitat and habitat mosaic names mentioned in village laws.

A finer spatial scale (the level of the plant community) was observed explicitly only for forests. We assume that the management of pastures and hay meadows was less adapted to the patchiness in vegetation, but data are limited. The well-developed and fine-scale management of hay meadows in the 20^th century was documented for the nearby Gyimes region, e.g. scattering of hayseed, rotation of parcels of land, management of wet or mossy patches, selective eradication of certain species, eradication of Nardus from certain areas by corralling sheep for the night [39], but there are no data relating to the time period in which these fine-scale practices developed in the Székelyföld region.

The area of pastures was not defined in village laws and management of pastures was regulated only at a landscape scale. We assume that herdsmen possessed plant community level ecological knowledge (daily and seasonal grazing routes were probably adapted to the spatial pattern of more or less useful species and to the grazing preference of livestock, (cf. [60])). However this was not made explicit, nor was it implicit in the regulations. It was generally true that village regulations rarely referred to specific uses of wild plant species (except to those of trees).

The finest scale regulated was that of individual plants. Cutting was prohibited or strongly restricted in case of fruit trees and trees of prohibited forests.

The temporal scale of village laws, even explicitly, was very large. On the one hand, they had existed “from ancient times”. On the other, they were meant “for descendants”, “for the coming generations” and even “for eternity” [5]. Thinking on the century time scale occurred only at this general level and concrete, ecological phenomena at this level were not mentioned. Changes during the latter decades, e.g. reduction in ecosystem services were referred to, often concretely, mainly for forests, and rarely for pastures. Regulation of management at the decade time scale could only be observed for forests (prohibited parts of the forests until they had matured). At the end of the 18^th century, owing to the effect of the Enlightenment and capitalism, short-term planning started to spread in community management, and the effect of trade and individual goals became stronger [5].

Based on our analysis, we reconstructed the presumed landscape ethnoecological knowledge of the framers of village laws (Table 9). Based on explicitly expressed or implicitly inferred knowledge, we argue that Székelys possessed detailed knowledge of the local ecological system, the past, the dynamics and the managing possibilities of the landscape and available ecosystem services.

Village laws were most abundant in Driving force-related and Response-related LEEK. In the case of pressure, state and impact, it was often difficult to reconstruct the mostly implicit local ecological knowledge. The small number of state records would imply that every member of the community had knowledge of the good/bad ecological conditions of the ecosystems of the village territory. While ecologically harmful activities were often emphasized in village laws (the prohibition and restriction of some activites), ecologically favourable activities were rarely mentioned. We argue that the latter might have been common knowledge. It would seem that almost every member of the community had a basic level of LEEK, and regulations were founded on it. This LEEK was not possessed by outsiders and new immigrants to the same degree. A profound knowledge of the landscape, the nuanced naming of places with toponyms, perception of changes and a knowledge of the degradation and regeneration processes of ecological functions and services could often be identified in the handing out of legal sentences. Responses drafted to prevent decline and degradation also demonstrated an in-depth knowledge of ecological processes. In general, a more detailed ecological knowledge was observed for forests than for grasslands.

Unfortunately, some aspects of LEEK were so well known within Székely communities that they were not made explicit in village laws (see the last column of Table 9). Other significant parts of LEEK remained implicit because they were not related to restrictions. For example, the Székelys’ in-depth understanding of fungi was not apparent in village laws but is shown by their more recent nuanced and still traditional knowledge of different species and their habitat preferences in the region (15–35 folk fungi taxa /village) [61].

It was particularly surprising to find more folk habitat names than names for wild animal and plant species in village laws. Székely regulations mostly focused on sites, habitats and not on species. The reason for this may be that in village laws the use of certain sites and habitat types was regulated, and Székelys knew from the toponyms that the name referred e.g. to a place dominated by oaks.

Comparison of the habitat types mentioned in Székely village laws with both recent and historical folk habitat names documented in Gyergyó and Gyimes regions [50, 62] revealed a great overlap (e.g. of main forest types and land-use types), but a conspicuous lack of reference to spruce forests, spring fens, reed beds and stony-rocky places. Presumably, there was no need to regulate the use of these habitats.

Although Székely people presumably knew the dominant grasses and herbs of pastures and hay meadows, surprisingly none of these nor the weed species of arable fields were mentioned in village laws. According to data collected by Rab [62] and Babai and Molnár [50], 150–250 wild plant species are known by locals in the villages of this region. As most of these names occur in medieval sources and toponymes of medieval or earlier origin [62] we argue that the absence of wild plant (and animal) names from village laws does not imply a lack of knowledge of these species by Székelys.

The DPSIR framework used in our analysis helped towards the identification, structuring, quantification and assessment of the local ecological knowledge related to key socio-economic drivers, pressures, states, impacts and local responses, thus providing a holistic and comprehensive approach to the complex issues relating to the sustainable management of natural resources. The DPSIR framework helped especially to locate implicit ecological knowledge, including part of the ecological knowledge embedded in planning and practice (see Table 9). Previously the DPSIR framework was most often used to describe rapidly deteriorating environmental situations. We demonstrated that the framework is also suitable for the analysis of long-term human-nature relationships occurring within a relatively stable socio-economic system.