Balázs Deák and Orsolya Valkó from IEB Lendület Seed Ecology Research Group visited Prof. Gábor Lövei in February 2022. One of the purposes of the mission was to visit the institute’s experimental greenhouse system. The greenhouse system consists of three components and is modular in design, allowing the experimental units to be air-conditioned independently and to avoid cross-contamination. We drew a lot of ideas and inspiration on the development of the system at IEB as well as possibilities for the future. The other purpose of the trip was to visit the prehistoric burial mounds in Denmark, these ancient man-made formations are in many ways similar to the mounds (kunhalmok) found from Hungary all the way to Mongolia. The steep slopes of the mounds have protected the grassland habitats on them, these small habitat islands play a very important role in the agricultural landscape. In the future, we plan to investigate the biodiversity conservation potential of these valuable habitats based on the sampling protocol developed on the mounds in Hungary, Bulgaria and Kazakhstan. Thank you very much for the hospitality of Prof. Gábor Lövei, we returned home from the visit with a lot of inspiration and ideas.

Image: More than 8,000 ancient burial mounds remain in Denmark to this day. The mounds have outstanding landscape value and function as grassland habitats in the agricultural landscape.