Symposium on semi-natural grasslands in European agricultural landscape to be held on 5 February

On 5 February 2026, the symposium “Semi-natural grasslands in the European agricultural landscape: plants, pollinators and people in the winds of change" will be held at the University of Tartu.

The event will focus on the factors shaping the relationships between plants and pollinators in semi-natural grasslands and similar grassland habitats, which are the cornerstones of biodiversity in European agricultural landscapes, as well as the role of land users in maintaining these ecosystems.

The international symposium will feature presentations by both early-career researchers and leading European scientists in grassland ecology, with speakers including Zuzana Münzbergová (Czech Academy of Sciences), Hans Jacquemyn (KU Leuven, Belgium), Jan Plue (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences) and Sabrina Träger (Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany). Timo Kark from the Estonian Ministry of Climate will contribute insights from a policy and practitioner perspective.

The symposium offers an excellent opportunity to exchange knowledge and experience, and to seek solutions for supporting biodiversity and sustainable land use in Europe’s grasslands. It also marks the concluding event of the Biodiversa+ Partnership Programme project “The Role of Functional Connectivity of Semi-natural Grassland Networks in Maintaining Plant–Pollinator Interactions” (FuncNet).

The event takes place in Oecologicum (Tartu, J. Liivi 2). More detailed information about the programme and registration is available on the web page of the Pollination Ecology Workgroup organising the symposium.