Ethnoecology of Turkmen Sahra saline and alkaline rangelands using traditional knowledge of Turkmen herders: a case study in Aq Qala county, Golestan Province

The main question in this study is how herders perceive plants in saline and alkaline rangelands and the relation between water, soil and plants. Data collection was done using field walks and semi-structured interviews with herders in Incheh Borun rangeland, Aq Qala county at Golestan province, Iran. Herders mentioned 38 plant species with local names. Traditional knowledge of herders showed that land in Turkmen Sahra is classified into two categories of sour and sweet and ocassionally healthy-unhealthy or good-bad are used instead to describe land. Herders also described seven categories for soil including Shishei (glassy), Shor (sour), Martoob (wet), Naor (small basins), Tappeh (hill), Ghermez (red) and Siah (black) where specific plants grow in each category. The result of this study showed that Turkmen herders carry rich knowledge regarding the description of plants and habitats. The innovation of this study was using Turkmen herders’ traditional knowledge in identification of plants, soil categories and their characteristics which is done for the first time in the region. It is recommended that policymaking in natural resources management of Iran apply buttom-up planning and decision-making in order to use traditional ecological knowledge of local communities.