Exploring Winegrowers' Behaviours and Ecological Impacts Under Climate Change and Policy Scenarios-Examples from Three European Winegrowing Regions.

Viticulture is an example of a socio-ecological system that poses serious challenges for sustainable soil management and pesticide use, with various interactions between winegrowers' decision-making and ecological consequences. This study introduces an agent-based model (ABM) on winegrowers' decision on inter-row management and pesticide use. The ABM builds upon an empirical study of winegrowers' decision-making in European viticultural landscapes and has been built for three case study regions: Leithaberg (Austria), Palatinate (Germany) and Târnave (Romania). The ABM allows for analysing potential effects of policy instruments including mandatory vegetation cover in the inter-rows, the reduction of fungicide use and ban of insecticides against Lobesia botrana. The effects of policies differ between the case study regions, indicating how important the local context is for effective policies. For example, policies aiming at higher inter-row vegetation cover had the strongest effects on vegetation cover, landscape aesthetics and soil loss in Târnave since many vineyards are currently intensively tilled and there exist no policies supporting inter-row vegetation cover in Romania.

Efficiency of inorganic fungicides against the formation of Erysiphe necator chasmothecia in vineyards.

BACKGROUND: A reduction in chasmothecia, an important inoculum of grape powdery mildew (Erysiphe necator Schwein.), is essential for disease control in vineyards; the use of fungicides during the formation of chasmothecia on vine leaves, late in the growing season, may accomplish this. Inorganic fungicides, such as sulphur, copper, and potassium bicarbonate, are very useful for this purpose because of their multisite mode of action. The aim of this study was to evaluate chasmothecia reduction using different fungicide applications late in the growing season in commercially managed vineyards and in an exact application trial. RESULTS: Chasmothecia on vine leaves were reduced in commercial vineyards by four copper (P = 0.01) and five potassium bicarbonate (P = 0.026) applications. The positive effect of potassium bicarbonate was also confirmed in the application trial, where two applications showed lower chasmothecia numbers than the control (P = 0.002). CONCLUSION: The application of inorganic fungicides reduced the amount of chasmothecia as the primary inoculum source. Potassium bicarbonate and copper are of further interest for disease control as these fungicides can be used by organic and conventional wine growers. The application of these fungicides should be carried out as late as possible before harvest to reduce chasmothecia formation and, consequently, the potential for powdery mildew infestation in the subsequent season. © 2023 The Authors. Pest Management Science published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.

Role of Agricultural Management in the Provision of Ecosystem Services in Warm Climate Vineyards: Functional Prediction of Genes Involved in Nutrient Cycling and Carbon Sequestration.

(1) Background: Maintaining soil fertility and crop productivity using natural microbial diversity could be a feasible approach for achieving sustainable development in agriculture. In this study, we compared soils from vineyards under organic and conventional management by predicting functional profiles through metagenomic analysis based on the 16S rRNA gene. (2) Methods: The structure, diversity and predictive functions of soil bacteria related to the biogeochemical cycle of the soil were analyzed, including oxidative and hydrolytic C-cycling enzymes, N-cycling enzymes and P-cycling enzymes. The inter-row spontaneous vegetation in the organic vineyards was also characterized. (3) Results: A clear effect of the farming system (organic vs. conventional) and cover management (herbicides plus tillage, mowing only and mowing plus tillage) on bacterial beta diversity and predicted functions was evidenced. While conventional viticulture increased the potential capacity of the soil to regulate the cycling of inorganic forms of N, organic viticulture in general enhanced those functions involving organic N, P and C substrates. Although the soil bacterial community responded differently to contrasting soil management strategies, nutrient cycling and carbon sequestration functions remained preserved, suggesting a high bacterial functional redundancy in the soil in any case. However, most of the predicted bacterial functions related to soil organic matter turnover were enhanced by organic management. (4) Conclusions: We posit the potential for organic viticulture to adequately address climate change adaptation in the context of sustainable agriculture.

Reply to Schausberger, P. Not Seeing the Mites for the Hairs. Comment on "Möth et al. Unexpected Effects of Local Management and Landscape Composition on Predatory Mites and Their Food Resources in Vineyards. Insects 2021, 12, 180".

This is a reply to the comment from Schausberger [...].

Enhancing flowering plant functional richness improves wild bee diversity in vineyard inter-rows in different floral kingdoms.

Wild bees are threatened by multiple interacting stressors, such as habitat loss, land use change, parasites, and pathogens. However, vineyards with vegetated inter-rows can offer high floral resources within viticultural landscapes and provide foraging and nesting habitats for wild bees. Here, we assess how vineyard management regimes (organic vs. conventional; inter-row vegetation management) and landscape composition determine the inter-row plant and wild bee assemblages, as well as how these variables relate to functional traits in 24 Austrian and 10 South African vineyards. Vineyards had either permanent vegetation cover in untilled inter-rows or temporary vegetation cover in infrequently tilled inter-rows. Proportion of seminatural habitats (e.g., fallows, grassland, field margins) and woody structures (e.g., woodlots, single trees, tree rows) were used as proxies for landscape composition and mapped within 500-m radius around the study vineyards. Organic vineyard management increased functional richness (FRic) of wild bees and flowering plants, with woody structures marginally increasing species richness and FRic of wild bees. Wild bee and floral traits were differently associated across the countries. In Austria, several bee traits (e.g., lecty, pollen collection type, proboscis length) were associated with flower color and symmetry, while in South African vineyards, only bees' proboscis length was positively correlated with floral traits characteristic of Asteraceae flowers (e.g., ray-disk morphology, yellow colors). Solitary bee species in Austria benefitted from infrequent tillage, while ground nesting species preferred inter-rows with undisturbed soils. Higher proportions of woody structures in surrounding landscapes resulted in less solitary and corbiculate bees in Austria, but more aboveground nesting species in South Africa. In both countries, associations between FRic of wild bees and flowering plants were positive both in organic and in conventional vineyards. We recommend the use of diverse cover crop seed mixtures to enhance plant flowering diversity in inter-rows, to increase wild bee richness in viticultural landscapes.

Organic Farming and Cover-Crop Management Reduce Pest Predation in Austrian Vineyards.

Habitat simplification and intensive use of pesticides are main drivers of global arthropod declines and are, thus, decreasing natural pest control. Organic farming, complex landscapes, and local vineyard management practices such as implementation of flower-rich cover-crop mixtures may be a promising approach to enhance predator abundance and, therefore, natural pest control. We examined the effect of organic versus integrated management, cover-crop diversity in the vineyard inter-rows, and landscape composition on the natural pest control of Lobesia botrana eggs and pupae. Predation of L. botrana pupae was reduced by organic farming and species-poor cover-crops by about 10%. Predation rates of L. botrana eggs did not differ significantly in any of the studied management options. Dominant predators were earwigs (Forficulidae), bush crickets (Tettigoniidae), and ants (Formicidae). Negative effects of organic viticulture are most likely related to the negative nontarget effects on arthropods related to the frequent sulfur and copper applications in combination with the avoidance of strongly damaging insecticides by integrated winegrowers. While a 10% difference in predation rates on a single pest stage is unlikely to have strong practical implications, our results show that the assumed effectiveness of environmentally friendly agriculture needs to be evaluated for specific crops and regions.

Unexpected Effects of Local Management and Landscape Composition on Predatory Mites and Their Food Resources in Vineyards.

Viticultural practices and landscape composition are the main drivers influencing biological pest control in vineyards. Predatory mites, mainly phytoseiid (Phytoseiidae) and tydeoid mites (Tydeidae), are important to control phytophagous mites (Tetranychidae and Eriophyidae) on vines. In the absence of arthropod prey, pollen is an important food source for predatory mites. In 32 paired vineyards located in Burgenland/Austria, we examined the effect of landscape composition, management type (organic/integrated), pesticide use, and cover crop diversity of the inter-row on the densities of phytoseiid, tydeoid, and phytophagous mites. In addition, we sampled pollen on vine leaves. Typhlodromus pyri Scheuten was the main phytoseiid mite species and Tydeus goetzi Schruft the main tydeoid species. Interestingly, the area-related acute pesticide toxicity loading was higher in organic than in integrated vineyards. The densities of phytoseiid and tydeoid mites was higher in integrated vineyards and in vineyards with spontaneous vegetation. Their population also profited from an increased viticultural area at the landscape scale. Eriophyoid mite densities were extremely low across all vineyards and spider mites were absent. Biological pest control of phytophagous mites benefits from less intensive pesticide use and spontaneous vegetation cover in vineyard inter-rows, which should be considered in agri-environmental schemes.

Landscape simplification increases vineyard pest outbreaks and insecticide use.

Diversifying agricultural landscapes may mitigate biodiversity declines and improve pest management. Yet landscapes are rarely managed to suppress pests, in part because researchers seldom measure key variables related to pest outbreaks and insecticides that drive management decisions. We used a 13-year government database to analyse landscape effects on European grapevine moth (Lobesia botrana) outbreaks and insecticides across c. 400 Spanish vineyards. At harvest, we found pest outbreaks increased four-fold in simplified, vineyard-dominated landscapes compared to complex landscapes in which vineyards are surrounded by semi-natural habitats. Similarly, insecticide applications doubled in vineyard-dominated landscapes but declined in vineyards surrounded by shrubland. Importantly, pest population stochasticity would have masked these large effects if numbers of study sites and years were reduced to typical levels in landscape pest-control studies. Our results suggest increasing landscape complexity may mitigate pest populations and insecticide applications. Habitat conservation represents an economically and environmentally sound approach for achieving sustainable grape production.

Evaluating the Impact of Wildlife Shelter Management on the Genetic Diversity of Erinaceus europaeus and E. roumanicus in Their Contact Zone.

Hedgehogs are among the most abundant species to be found within wildlife shelters and after successful rehabilitation they are frequently translocated. The effects and potential impact of these translocations on gene flow within wild populations are largely unknown. In this study, different wild hedgehog populations were compared with artificially created "shelter populations", with regard to their genetic diversity, in order to establish basic data for future inferences on the genetic impact of hedgehog translocations. Observed populations are located within central Europe, including the species Erinaceus europaeus and E. roumanicus. Shelters were mainly hosting one species; in one case, both species were present syntopically. Apart from one exception, the results did not show a higher genetic diversity within shelter populations, indicating that individuals did not originate from a wider geographical area than individuals grouped into one of the wild populations. Two shelters from Innsbruck hosted individuals that belonged to two potential clusters, as indicated in a distance analysis. When such a structure stems from the effects of landscape elements like large rivers, the shelter management-related translocations might lead to homogenization across the dispersal barrier.

Effects of vineyard inter-row management on the diversity and abundance of plants and surface-dwelling invertebrates in Central Romania.

Vineyard inter-rows are important biodiversity hotspots within agricultural landscapes, especially when they are covered with vegetation. However, little is known on the effects to management intensity on a broad range of surface-dwelling invertebrates and their interaction with vegetation. We assessed the diversity and activity density of ants, beetles, millipedes, mites, spiders, springtails and woodlice using pitfall traps in vineyards with either high management intensity (HI) consisting of frequently tilled inter-rows or low management intensity (LO) with alternating tillage in every second inter-row. The study was performed in the Târnave wine region in Central Romania. We wanted to know whether, (i) vineyard management intensity affects the diversity of plants and invertebrates, and (ii) local habitat characteristics affect species richness of different functional guilds and taxa. Species richness of some invertebrate taxa (Coleoptera, Araneae, Formicidae) did significantly differ between HI and LO vineyards. Only phytophages (some Coleoptera) increased in species richness and activity density with vegetation cover. Vineyard soil properties (organic matter content, pH, P, and K) did not significantly differ between HI and LO vineyards. We conclude that vineyard inter-row management can affect both the conservation of biodiversity and the provision of biodiversity-driven ecosystem services.

Citizen Science, Education, and Learning: Challenges and Opportunities.

Citizen science is a growing field of research and practice, generating new knowledge and understanding through the collaboration of citizens in scientific research. As the field expands, it is becoming increasingly important to consider its potential to foster education and learning opportunities. Although progress has been made to support learning in citizen science projects, as well as to facilitate citizen science in formal and informal learning environments, challenges still arise. This paper identifies a number of dilemmas facing the field-from competing scientific goals and learning outcomes, differing underlying ontologies and epistemologies, diverging communication strategies, to clashing values around advocacy and activism. Although such challenges can become barriers to the successful integration of citizen science into mainstream education systems, they also serve as signposts for possible synergies and opportunities. One of the key emerging recommendations is to align educational learning outcomes with citizen science project goals at the planning stage of the project using co-creation approaches to ensure issues of accessibility and inclusivity are paramount throughout the design and implementation of every project. Only then can citizen science realise its true potential to empower citizens to take ownership of their own science education and learning.

Diverging Effects of Landscape Factors and Inter-Row Management on the Abundance of Beneficial and Herbivorous Arthropods in Andalusian Vineyards (Spain).

Land use at landscape and field scales can increase the diversity and abundance of natural enemies for pest control. In this study, we investigated interactions between landscape elements (semi-natural vegetation, olive orchards, vineyards, other agricultural areas) and inter-row management (vegetation cover vs. bare soil) in relation to arthropod populations in Andalusian vineyards. Arthropods were collected from grapevine foliage in 15 vineyards using suction sampling. Landscape structure was analyzed within a 750 m radius surrounding the studied vineyards. Arthropods were categorized into functional groups (predators, parasitoids, herbivores), and their responses to the most influencing factors were analyzed by likelihood methods and model selection. Of the total of 650 arthropods collected, 48% were predators, 33% herbivores and 19% parasitoids. Numbers of predatory aeolothrips, parasitoids and herbivorous cicadas in the study vineyards decreased with an increased proportion of vineyards in the surroundings. Spider populations in vineyards increased with increasing proportions of other agricultural fields (non-flowering crops) in the surroundings. Semi-natural elements and olive orchards had no influence on the abundance of collected arthropods. We observed synergistic effects between landscape elements and inter-row management. The total numbers of arthropods, herbivores and parasitoids in vineyards benefitted from inter-row vegetation, while spiders benefitted from bare soil. Our findings underline the importance of both surrounding landscape elements and vineyard ground cover management to promote beneficial arthropods for potential natural pest control.

Response of wild bee diversity, abundance, and functional traits to vineyard inter-row management intensity and landscape diversity across Europe.

Agricultural intensification is a major driver of wild bee decline. Vineyards may be inhabited by plant and animal species, especially when the inter-row space is vegetated with spontaneous vegetation or cover crops. Wild bees depend on floral resources and suitable nesting sites which may be found in vineyard inter-rows or in viticultural landscapes. Inter-row vegetation is managed by mulching, tillage, and/or herbicide application and results in habitat degradation when applied intensively. Here, we hypothesize that lower vegetation management intensities, higher floral resources, and landscape diversity affect wild bee diversity and abundance dependent on their functional traits. We sampled wild bees semi-quantitatively in 63 vineyards representing different vegetation management intensities across Europe in 2016. A proxy for floral resource availability was based on visual flower cover estimations. Management intensity was assessed by vegetation cover (%) twice a year per vineyard. The Shannon Landscape Diversity Index was used as a proxy for landscape diversity within a 750 m radius around each vineyard center point. Wild bee communities were clustered by country. At the country level, between 20 and 64 wild bee species were identified. Increased floral resource availability and extensive vegetation management both affected wild bee diversity and abundance in vineyards strongly positively. Increased landscape diversity had a small positive effect on wild bee diversity but compensated for the negative effect of low floral resource availability by increasing eusocial bee abundance. We conclude that wild bee diversity and abundance in vineyards is efficiently promoted by increasing floral resources and reducing vegetation management frequency. High landscape diversity further compensates for low floral resources in vineyards and increases pollinating insect abundance in viticulture landscapes.

Application of a SSR-GBS marker system on investigation of European Hedgehog species and their hybrid zone dynamics.

By applying second-generation sequencing technologies to microsatellite genotyping, sequence information is produced which can result in high-resolution population genetics analysis populations and increased replicability between runs and laboratories. In the present study, we establish an approach to study the genetic structure patterns of two European hedgehog species Erinaceaus europaeus and E. roumanicus. These species are usually associated with human settlements and are good models to study anthropogenic impacts on the genetic diversity of wild populations. The short sequence repeats genotyping by sequence (SSR-GBS) method presented uses amplicon sequences to determine genotypes for which allelic variants can be defined according to both length and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). To evaluate whether complete sequence information improved genetic structure definition, we compared this information with datasets based solely on length information. We identified a total of 42 markers which were successfully amplified in both species. Overall, genotyping based on complete sequence information resulted in a higher number of alleles, as well as greater genetic diversity and differentiation between species. Additionally, the structure patterns were slightly clearer with a division between both species and some potential hybrids. There was some degree of genetic structure within species, although only in E. roumanicus was this related to geographical distance. The statistically significant results obtained by SSR-GBS demonstrate that it is superior to electrophoresis-based methods for SSR genotyping. Moreover, the greater reproducibility and throughput with lower effort which can be obtained with SSR-GBS and the possibility to include degraded DNA into the analysis, allow for continued relevance of SSR markers during the genomic era.

Effects of vegetation management intensity on biodiversity and ecosystem services in vineyards: A meta-analysis.

At the global scale, vineyards are usually managed intensively to optimize wine production without considering possible negative impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem services (ES) such as high soil erosion rates, degradation of soil fertility or contamination of groundwater. Winegrowers regulate competition for water and nutrients between the vines and inter-row vegetation by tilling, mulching and/or herbicide application. Strategies for more sustainable viticulture recommend maintaining vegetation cover in inter-rows, however, there is a lack of knowledge as to what extent this less intensive inter-row management affects biodiversity and associated ES.We performed a hierarchical meta-analysis to quantify the effects of extensive vineyard inter-row vegetation management in comparison to more intensive management (like soil tillage or herbicide use) on biodiversity and ES from 74 studies covering four continents and 13 wine-producing countries.Overall, extensive vegetation management increased above- and below-ground biodiversity and ecosystem service provision by 20% in comparison to intensive management. Organic management together with management without herbicides showed a stronger positive effect on ES and biodiversity provision than inter-row soil tillage.Soil loss parameters showed the largest positive response to inter-row vegetation cover. The second highest positive response was observed for biodiversity variables, followed by carbon sequestration, pest control and soil fertility. We found no trade-off between grape yield and quality vs. biodiversity or other ES. Synthesis and applications. Our meta-analysis concludes that vegetation cover in inter-rows contributes to biodiversity conservation and provides multiple ecosystem services. However, in drier climates grape yield might decrease without irrigation and careful vegetation management. Agri-environmental policies should therefore focus on granting subsidies for the establishment of locally adapted diverse vegetation cover in vineyard inter-rows. Future studies should focus on analysing the combined effects of local vineyard management and landscape composition and advance research in wine-growing regions in Asia and in the southern hemisphere.

Author Correction: Soil biota in vineyards are more influenced by plants and soil quality than by tillage intensity or the surrounding landscape.

A correction to this article has been published and is linked from the HTML and PDF versions of this paper. The error has been fixed in the paper.

Soil biota in vineyards are more influenced by plants and soil quality than by tillage intensity or the surrounding landscape.

Tillage is known for its adverse effects on soil biota, at least in arable agroecosystems. However, in vineyards effects might differ as tillage is often performed during dry periods or only in every other inter-row allowing species to re-colonise disturbed areas. We examined the response of earthworms (lumbricids), springtails (collembola) and litter decomposition to periodically mechanically disturbed (PMD) and permanently green covered (PGC) vineyard inter-rows and assessed whether site effects are altered by the surrounding landscape. In commercial vineyards in Austria we sampled earthworms by handsorting, springtails by soil coring and pitfall trapping and installed litter decomposition bags. Earthworm species diversity increased with plant biomass under PMD but not under PGC; earthworm density was unaffected by tillage but increased with plant biomass mainly at high soil quality (soil fertility index). Springtail species diversity was unaffected by tillage; springtail densities (mainly larger species) were reduced under PGC. Litter decomposition was little affected by investigated parameters. Landscape heterogeneity affected the functional diversity of surface springtails, but did not influence soil-dwelling springtails, earthworms or litter decomposition. We conclude that effects on soil biota of periodical tillage in vineyards need not necessarily be detrimental and will be modified by plant biomass and soil quality.