Authors: Löki, Viktor; Nagy, Jenő;Malkócs, Tamás;Lovas-Kiss, Ádám;Fekete, Réka;Süveges, Kristóf;Takács, Attila;Molnár V., Attila;

In the face of worldwide habitat loss, the role of human-shaped habitats in conserving biodiversity is becoming increasingly important. Due to their special cultural role, cemeteries can preserve parts of the native vegetation when the surrounding landscape becomes degraded. However, these special refuges are threatened by human encroachment and changing management practices. Our aim was to understand the conservation value of cemeteries, mainly indicated by orchids as flagship species for biodiversity conservation. More than 2500 cemeteries were visited between 2014 and 2018 in Turkey, Azerbaijan and 12 European countries. We analysed species richness, abundance and the presence of orchid taxa in the visited cemeteries, while we also collected sporadic data of other valuable organisms, mainly other threatened plant species occurring in cemeteries. We found orchids in smaller or higher numbers, but in all visited countries. Conservation value was generally the highest in rural cemeteries, while cemeteries represent important habitats for many organisms. Our results indicate that urbanization and modern changes in human activity have a strong impact on the conservation value of cemeteries in both Europe and Asia Minor. Practices maintaining traditional burial habits and environment-friendly management of cemeteries deserve more moral and financial support.