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Conversion of natural habitats to vineyard monoculture is rapidly increasing both globally and on the California central coast. Although agricultural expansion typically decreases species diversity and abundance, landscape heterogeneity can maintain biodiversity, ecosystem function, and provide pest control services within agricultural systems. Large remnant oak trees are sometimes retained within vineyards, yet little is known about their value to biodiversity or the beneficial services to grape growers. While insectivorous bats (order: Chiroptera) are natural predators of agricultural pests and commonly utilize trees for foraging and roosting, no study has quantified the influence of remnant trees within vineyards on bat abundance and diversity. During 2014 and 2015, we recorded bat activity and species richness as well as insect abundance at isolated remnant trees and paired open areas within 14 vineyards in coastal central California. We used generalized linear mixed models to assess the influence of remnant trees on total and species-specific bat activity and insect abundance, and how these effects were influenced by individual tree and landscape-scale characteristics. We recorded 11,465 bat passes representing 11 bat species. Overall, bat activity rates were 1.5 times greater at trees compared to open areas. Activity levels of low-frequency echolocators adapted to open habitats did not differ between trees and open areas; however, activity levels of high frequency echolocators adapted to edge habitats were 2.4 times higher at trees than open areas. Bat activity at trees increased with larger tree size, closer neighboring remnant trees, and lower remnant tree density in the surrounding landscape. Our study indicates that remnant trees within vineyards provide important habitat value for bats at the landscape-scale by allowing edge-space adapted bat species access to vineyards. Retention of individual large trees can help to maintain biodiversity and ecological function in vineyard landscapes, a benefit for both conservation and agricultural production.

The environmental sustainability of viticulture can be enhanced with the application of conservative management practices (e.g. resident vegetation or cover crop on the inter-row), which can lead to an increase of soil carbon (C) sequestration. However, studies disentangling the vineyard C budget are still very scarce. In this context, comparing vineyard net ecosystem CO2 exchange (NEE) with soil fluxes is especially useful. From January 2015 to August 2016, we continuously monitored vineyard NEE with the eddy covariance method and ground CO2 fluxes with an automated chamber system in a commercial vineyard in North Eastern Italy. At the site, inter-rows are covered with resident herbaceous vegetation, however, due to low soil permeability, soil cultivation (ripping or tillage) was performed on alternate alleys in autumn and, sometimes, spring in order to improve water infiltration. Measured annual soil respiration was comparable, but lower, to values estimated by previous studies in vineyards and the net uptake of the grass cover laid in the middle of yearly C budget range reported in the literature for grasslands. At the end of the measurement period, the vineyard ecosystem showed to be a net sink of CO2, absorbing around −233 gC m−2. However, the C sequestration could have been much greater if no soil cultivation had been applied. Indeed, the ground compartment was a source of CO2, but without inter-row cultivation it could have been a net sink, with an overall vineyard C budget of about −421 gC m−2. This confirms that grass cover of the inter-rows can play an important role in the C budget of woody crops. Additionally, the pattern of C fluxes reveals that the activity of herbaceous vegetation in summer decreased well before vines, thus reducing water competition during dry periods. These results provide important information for the tuning of management practices aimed at improving the environmental sustainability of viticulture.

Occupancy models estimate presence and detection probability of species of interest of which they provide useful information and also contribute to decision making. In this proof-of-concept, we propose an approach to demonstrate the applicability of occupancy models in insect monitoring having as targets the spittlebug Philaenus spumarius, the main European vector of Xylella fastidiosa, and other spittlebugs. Surveys were performed in two different agricultural settings (olive orchards and vineyards) in Trentino (northern Italy). Philaenus spumarius was present in all surveyed sites and its detectability was significantly influenced by site covariates (i.e., forest and vineyard coverage, hours of sunlight) and plot covariates (i.e., weed height). Site covariates influenced the detection probability of other spittlebugs as well, while the co-occurrence of different species did not affect the P. spumarius occupancy. Our outcomes suggest that occupancy models are valuable tools that should support future studies aimed at estimating the presence and abundance of pest insects, especially when site covariates and/or sampling methods affect the detectability of a species.

Conservation of natural habitats within agroecosystems often enhances the abundance and species diversity of arthropod natural enemies, but does not necessarily improve the biological control of crop pests. Differences in habitat use between some natural enemies (favoring natural areas) and pests (aggregating on the crop plants), were proposed to underlie low pest control in spite of high abundance of beneficials. To test this hypothesis, we characterized the habitat use of important vineyard pests (European grapevine moths and vine mealybugs) and of natural enemies (parasitoid wasps and spiders), and compared natural enemy communities across habitats. Arthropods were sampled in five vineyards (from vines and from herbaceous vegetation), and from adjacent natural habitats, using pheromone traps, visual searches and vacuuming. European grapevine moth and mealybug populations were highest inside the vineyards, furthest away from natural habitats. The proportion of natural enemies out of all arthropods was highest in the natural habitats. Parasitoid diversity was highest in natural habitats, intermediate on herbaceous vegetation within vineyards, and lowest on vines, and their abundance was higher on herbaceous vegetation than on vines. The parasitoids' distribution between natural and agricultural habitats varied among morpho-species, and their community composition differed among habitats and sampling dates. Spiders were less common than parasitoids (2.9% vs. 14.4% out of all suction-sampled arthropods, respectively), yet similarly distributed. As hypothesized, natural enemies associated with herbaceous vegetation more strongly than did grape pests, and their community composition differed between natural habitats and vineyards. To support the full diversity of beneficial arthropods, non-crop herbaceous vegetation both around and within vineyards should be conserved.

Within agricultural landscapes, ecological infrastructures like hedges, grass strips or wildflower strips, can be essential for the provision of ecosystem services, and their role in maintaining and promoting functional biodiversity has been widely demonstrated in temperate zones. However, although the Mediterranean basin is considered to be a biodiversity hotspot, there is a lack of information about the role played there by these elements in biodiversity conservation. Spiders are generalist predators that are considered important components of biodiversity in vineyard ecosystems, where they can play a prominent role in the natural control of pest populations. Nevertheless, the influence that ecological infrastructures have on driving spider assemblages in Mediterranean vineyard agroecosystems is practically unknown. In a study conducted in an area exclusively devoted to traditional vineyard crops (La Rioja, northern Spain), we analyzed spider assemblages across four types of linear ecological infrastructures differing in their structural diversity: woodland hedges, rosaceous hedges, grass strips and flower strips. Spider assemblages were examined across three levels of organization (taxon, guild and body-size group). Taxonomic composition was different among infrastructures, as was guild composition and the distribution of body sizes. Abundance and richness of spiders were higher in more structurally diverse infrastructures. The response to habitat type differed among guilds but, overall, higher densities of spiders from different guilds were found in hedges. Body-size groups had a more balanced distribution in strips and hedges with higher levels of structural diversity. Our results suggest that it is crucial to preserve varied typologies of ecological infrastructures, with an optimal level of complexity and heterogeneity, to maintain diversified assemblages of these important biocontrol agents within Mediterranean vineyard agroecosystems.

In recent years, rainfed vineyards in the Mediterranean basin are being replaced by irrigated vineyards in some areas, a phenomenon that is expected to increase due to climate change. At the same time, the use of plant cover in vineyards has emerged as an alternative to other weed management practices (e.g., herbicide, tillage). Knowing how weed communities respond to these practices is essential to develop new and more sustainable vineyard management systems. However, there is a lack of research on this issue. This work examines, from a trait-based approach, the effects of weed management (herbicide, mowing, tillage), and deficit drip irrigation (irrigated, non-irrigated) on the functional structure of plant communities in a Mediterranean vineyard. Plant sampling was conducted from 2015 to 2018 in a previously established experiment in 2008. The experimental design was randomised blocks with four replications, including four management systems. Data for ten plant traits were collected from several databases and research work. The community-weighted mean of trait values were calculated, and RLQ and fourth-corner analyses were performed to establish the relationship between species-traits and management practices. In addition, functional groups were extracted by means of a cluster analysis on the RLQ ordination space and the Grime’s life strategy (CSR strategy) was computed to explore possible similarities with the functional structure of the community. A total of 29 herbaceous species were selected for their highest occurrence for statistical analysis. Results indicated that tillage and mowing were the main factors conditioning the functional structure of plant communities in this study. In general, weed management significantly affected leaf economics and regenerative traits, while irrigation influenced traits related to plant size. Phenological traits emerged as a major factor in understanding the response of plant communities to weed management practices. Furthermore, up to five functional groups were identified and associated with different management practices. Functional structure of the plant communities studied was consistent with CSR strategy, which showed a strong association with agricultural management. Irrigation favoured species with a more competitive strategy. Conversely, mowing in spontaneous plant cover limited the occurrence of these competitive species. This study provides knowledge about the ecology and plant traits that could contribute to the development of more sustainable weed management.

Soil carbon may be enhanced in agroecosystems by increasing root density throughout the soil profile. In vineyards and orchards, groundcovers that grow concurrently with the grapevines directly increase shallow root biomass and may induce deeper rooting of the fruit crop. We examined root distributions and soil properties associated with soil carbon in a vineyard that varies in groundcover and rootstock management practices. In comparison to an herbicide control, the grass groundcover substantially increased root biomass inputs in shallow soil zones ( 40 cm). Collectively, our results suggest that undervine groundcovers can substantially increase shallow soil carbon, but the potential for increases beyond the groundcover root zone remains unclear.

Organic farming is a key approach to reconcile food production, biodiversity conservation and environmental sustainability. Due to reduced inputs of agrochemicals, the success of organic farming is heavily dependent on the ecosystem services provided by the soil microbial community, and in particular by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). Numerous studies have already shown that also grapevines (Vitis vinifera) depend on AMF for normal growth and development. To what extent organic agriculture benefits the AMF communities on vines at regional scales, however, is still poorly understood. Here, we first quantified the relative importance of organic management, soil chemical characteristics, and geography on vineyard AMF diversity and community composition. Second, we tested whether soil nutrients fundamentally change the host-AMF community dynamics through changing universality of dissimilarity overlap curves. To identify AMF communities, we used high-throughput pyrosequencing on 170 root samples from grapevines originating from 18 conventionally and 16 organically managed Belgian and Dutch vineyards. We found no differences in AMF diversity between conventionally and organically managed vineyards. Soil phosphorus content and soil acidity, however, was strongly negatively associated with AMF diversity. Together with management type (organic vs. conventional), these two soil variables did also explain most of the variation in AMF community composition. The observed accumulation of soil copper, used to control fungal diseases, especially in organically managed vineyards, did not affect AMF communities. We observed, however, that copper concentration in the soil increased with vineyard age, indicating copper accumulation in the soil over time. AMF communities showed a regularity in interactions among taxa and their host. Under high soil P availability, however, interactions became more irregular. The potential benefits of organic vineyard management in terms of a high diversity of AMF are highly compromised by elevated soil phosphorus levels which may jeopardize the role of these symbionts in improving plant health and soil fertility. Decreasing nutrient inputs, even organic, is a key step in developing diverse AMF communities in vineyards.

Although organic farming is rapidly expanding in the vineyards of southern Europe, conventional crop management, using treatments that require a number of chemical inputs to guarantee yields is still the most common approach to crop management. To gauge the effects of these management systems on biodiversity, communities of vascular plants, butterflies, moths and birds were studied in vineyards in the Priorat Appellation of Origin (Catalonia, NE Spain). Measurements inside plots (all four taxonomic groups) and in grass strips between crop lines (only butterflies and vascular plants) were taken in organically and non-organically treated vineyards. Crop treatment was found to have an important effect, stronger on the most sessile organisms. Organic farms hosted consistently richer communities of both vascular plants and butterflies, a trend that was also observed − albeit less significantly − in moths. The weaker response in this group was probably due to insufficient sampling. Birds, the most vagile of the surveyed taxa, showed no significant response to treatments. Grass strips acted in all cases as reservoirs of biodiversity and hosted richer assemblages. The current trend of placing vineyards on slopes without terracing should ensure the existence of uncultivated strips within the vineyards to enhance the biodiversity of these agroecosystems. As well, parameters such as altitude and urban surface area are important drivers of biodiversity in this region. Our results suggest that organic farming may contribute to halting the widespread decrease that is occurring in communities of butterflies and other insects in this region.

The influence of complete cover cropping (inter- and intra-row) on grapevine growth, yield and must quality was evaluated in a three-year field trial in a commercial vineyard in northwestern Sardinia (Italy). Effects on developmental and reproductive parameters of the vine mealybug, Planococcus ficus (Signoret) (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae), were also investigated. The cover crop treatments were: natural covering, legume mixture, grass mixture, and conventional soil tillage, which was included as the reference treatment. Relative to soil tillage, cover crops reduced grape production by modifying yield components in different ways: legume mixture reduced the cluster weight, whereas grass mixture led to a lower number of clusters per vine coupled with a lower cluster weight. Cover crops also altered the must qualities relative to soil tillage. Grass mixture increased the content of sugar, anthocyanins and polyphenols, whereas legume mixture and natural covering reduced total polyphenols and anthocyanin content, respectively. All the P. ficus biological parameters examined were affected by the floor management practices. Mealybugs reared on grapevines subjected to soil tillage and legume covering showed a faster development time and higher survival, fecundity and fertility than those developed on natural covering and grass plots. The vine mealybug showed a higher performance on grapevines with a higher nitrogen content and vigor. Effects of cover crop treatments appear to be mediated through nutrient availability and content in grape plants. Consequently, utilizing competitive cover crops, while reducing yields, would improve must quality and reduce pest development.

Agricultural intensification threatens biodiversity, requiring a shift to agroecological farming. Identifying locally-specific management practices that can effectively enhance biodiversity can help guide farmland conservation efforts. We assess the effect of management practices and environmental variables on arthropod diversity under varying vineyard management regimes in a South African biosphere reserve. We also determine whether the implementation of these practices and their combined effect on arthropods differ between integrated and organic vineyards. Arthropod morphospecies richness and evenness were assessed for different taxonomic groups (spiders, beetles, and true bugs), in different positions in the crop (ground level, on cover crops, and on vine foliage) and for different feeding guilds (herbivores, detritivores, and predators). Percentage herbaceous vegetation cover had a consistent positive effect on morphospecies richness across taxa, microhabitats, and guilds. Other vegetation-related variables, such as volume of plant litter, plant species richness, and plant height positively influenced several of the biodiversity responses. We did not detect any negative effect of agrochemicals used in an integrated approach, or a strong effect of overall farming approach (organic vs. integrated) on the species richness or evenness of any of the focal taxa, sampled positions, or guilds. These results indicate that the maintenance of dense and diverse cover crops is a strategic way to enhance vineyard arthropod diversity where other management practices are already implemented sensitively. This highlights that minimal adjustment of management practices can greatly benefit farmland biodiversity conservation and is in keeping with the ethos of the concept of a biosphere reserve.

In addition to food production, tree crop-based agrosystems can provide other ecosystem services (ES) such as soil fertility maintenance, soil and water retention and landscape preservation. Tree crops can also act as carbon (C) storage facilities and climate change mitigating systems. We focus on the nature of viticulture as a provider of ES, in particular C storage. This study has been carried out focusing on two different wine-grape growing areas in central Italy (Latium region; natural and peri-urban hilly areas) where the vines (Vitis vinifera sativa L., cv Merlot) were cultivated according to two different management techniques (conventional vs organic farming). Grapevine C storage levels were analyzed in the two main vine C pools during the 2011 and 2012 growing seasons, i.e., above-ground and below-ground biomass, in accordance with the Net Ecosystem Production (NEP) methodology. In order to quantify C sequestration at the vineyard level, we determined soil C sequestration and soil functionality through the measurement of Total Organic Carbon (TOC), microbial biomass and soil and grapevine root respiration. To conclude, the net C balance was assessed at both the grapevine and the vineyard scale. Although the highest dry matter partitioning in the grapevines was measured in the above-ground organs, the root systems contributed to between 9 and 26% of the total vine C fixation. The soil’s C fixation was maximized in the organically managed vineyards (73.35 tC ha−1). The CO2 sequestration of one hectare of vineyard ranged between 5.72 (±0.07) and 7.23(±1.11) tC ha−1 year−1. Soil respiration represented the main (99%) CO2 emission source in the vineyard agro-ecosystems. The Principal Component Analysis (PCA) indicated that the soil physical characteristics, the grapevine’s biological properties, and the vineyard’s management techniques, like those handling the inter-row space that highly differ in the organic and conventional farming, turned out to be the main factors influencing the soil’s C storage and consequently the vineyard’s C balance. Together, these findings prove that vineyards can act as C sinks, if properly managed. Furthermore, vineyards could represent a crucial cropping system able to provide pivotal ecological services such as carbon dioxide sequestration. Viticulture can also contribute to the preservation and regulation of natural resources –, such as soil and agricultural landscapes, according to the new European Commune Agricultural Policy (CAP).

Intensification of agricultural production has greatly limited the capacity of agricultural land to support other species. Maintaining landscape heterogeneity in and around agricultural landscapes can help conserve biodiversity and potentially natural pest control. Whereas bats (order: Chiroptera) are highly valued as natural predators of agricultural pests, little is known about the distribution and abundance of bat species across different types of agricultural landscapes. The objective of our study was to assess how local remnant habitat and surrounding natural areas influence bat activity levels within a vineyard landscape. To accomplish this, we conducted acoustic surveys at 21 vineyards within the North Coast wine-grape growing region of California. Using generalized linear mixed-models, we assessed the influence of local remnant habitat and surrounding natural areas to predict overall and species-specific activity patterns. A total of 14,613 bat passes were recorded, of which 80% were identified by a random forest classifier as either Tadarida brasiliensis the Brazilian free-tailed bat (25%), Myotis yumanensis the Yuma Myotis (24%), or Eptesicus fuscus the big brown bat (23%). The results of our models indicate that total bat activity, and the activity of each of the common bat species, was higher adjacent to remnant vegetation along the edges of vineyards as compared to within the vineyard, but that the effect of landscape-scale characteristics on bat activity was weak. This suggests that natural trees and shrubs should be conserved and restored throughout the vineyard landscape to enhance bat abundance for a win-win agricultural production and conservation solution.

Spreading of viticulture may pose serious threats to biodiversity and adequate policies targeted at decreasing its impact are urgently required. Current knowledge of viticulture effects on biodiversity is scarce and studies on bird communities in vineyards are even scarcer. We surveyed avian assemblages in Trentino vineyards (North-East Italy) in both breeding and wintering seasons to evaluate the effect of: i) landscape, ii) management and iii) topographic-climatic characteristics on birds and to derive implications for conservation. We calculated four community indexes (species richness, abundance, evenness and conservation index) and modelled their relative variation according to 18 environmental variables belonging to the three above-mentioned groups. Landscape models performed better than the others, except for winter evenness, for which management models were the most supported ones. Generally, models considering the three groups together explained more variation than models from an individual group. Landscape (and agricultural) heterogeneity, extent of marginal habitats, density of traditional elements (hedgerows, tree rows, isolated trees and rural buildings) all had positive effects, whereas vineyard cover had negative impact on the value of the four community indexes. Organic management had no apparent effect on avian communities. We detected a seasonal difference in the effects of environmental characteristics on bird communities, which suggested that local conservation efforts could be tuned according to the seasonal importance of vineyards in different regions. Key measures to promote biodiversity in vineyards include maintaining patches of residual habitats in the vineyard matrix and enhancing heterogeneity. Marginal features appeared particularly important in the homogeneous landscape of intensive vineyards to favour bird communities.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of vineyard proximity to riparian habitat on the biological control and population densities of the Western grape leafhopper, Erythroneura elegantula Osborn (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae). Natural enemy and pest populations were monitored over a two-year period at multiple vineyard sites adjacent to riparian habitat in northern California. At each site, natural enemy and pest population data were collected along a transect that extended from the riparian habitat into the vineyard. Additionally, a subset of the original research sites were further evaluated for crop vigor, pest density and parasitism rates between the vineyard edge and interior. Results from this study indicate that lower E. elegantula egg deposition and nymph abundance at the vineyard edge were primarily due to reduced crop vigor at the sampled sites and that the most likely cause for these changes were differences in microclimate and soil fertility that were found to be associated with proximity to the riparian habitat.

Euro-Mediterranean countries have undergone radical changes in their traditional landscapes due to the abandonment of rural areas. Natural vegetation rapidly colonizes abandoned lands and cause changes in ecosystem functioning. Our main objective was to study how time since abandonment of vineyards influences the physical, chemical and biological properties of the soil and the vegetation composition and cover. In 2016, we selected a chronosequence of six abandoned vineyards (1, 3, 7, 11, 25 and 40 years), an active vineyard, and a plot of land that has not been used as a vineyard for at least the last 60 years. Soil physical-chemical variables, including the organic matter fractions and available nutrients, were analysed. To observe the variation in the biochemical properties of the soils, the activities of 11 enzymes were determined, relating to the main macronutrient cycles: carbon (C), nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P) and sulphur (S) cycling. Three sites (1 m2) were randomly established on each plot within the area occupied by annual grasslands, and species cover was estimated in order to obtain the species density and cover of plant functional traits. Our results showed that the abandonment caused major changes in the functioning of the ecosystems. Secondary succession in abandoned vineyards was characterized by a significant increase in plant species density and by changes in the composition of the annual grasslands, from an early brassicaceous community to a late cistaceous community. This was accompanied by an increase in soil TOC (0.38–1.78%) and TN (0.14 to 0.26 %) content, and the activity of most enzymes. These changes occurred more rapidly during the first two decades after abadonment.

Comision Nacional de Investigacion Cientifica y Tecnologica (CONICYT) CONICYT FONDECYT 3160188 Proyecto GEF Corredores Biologicos de Montana ID MMA-ONU, Chile

Viticulture is a valuable sector worldwide with an extraordinary socio-economic impact in Spain. Numerous pests and diseases threaten vineyards, and their management primarily relies on the use of conventional agrochemicals. The current paradigm of sustainability pursues the implementation of ecologically sound strategies in vineyard ecosystems. The use of cover crops is arising as an alternative with numerous benefits, including favoring above-belowground biodiversity and the presence of beneficial soil organisms such as the entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs). We hypothesized that the use of specific cover crops in vineyards might enhance the natural occurrence and activity of EPNs by modulating the assemblage with associated organisms. We performed the experiments in an ongoing experimental vineyard (Vitis vinifera var Tempranillo, clon RJ-26, rootstock ‘110-Richter’) located in Logroño (Spain), drove with different soil management systems (three replicates each): conventional tillage practice and the cover crops (i) seeded with Bromus catharticus (Poaceae), (ii) flower-driven, and (iii) spontaneous. We took four soil composite samples per plot (n = 48 per sampling time) late spring and early autumn in two consecutive years (2017 and 2018). By using species-specific primers/probes qPCR sets, we screened for the presence and abundance of eight EPNs species and 12 related soil organisms: six nematophagous fungi, four free-living nematodes, and two ectoparasitic bacteria. Additionally, we assessed the EPN activity by the traditional insect-bait method. Overall, we recorded higher EPN numbers or activity rates on cover crops than on bare soils. However, some of the results were divergent among no-till treatments. We observed not only higher EPN abundance and activity on spontaneous covers but lower numbers of antagonistic organisms, particularly endoparasitic nematophagous fungi. Thus, according to our results, the use of spontaneous covers could be the most promising strategy to support the conservation biological control service provided by the naturally occurring EPN species in vineyards, plus with a low cost for the sector., This study was grant supported by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, Goverment of Spain (AGL2014-53336R). The pre-doctoral contracts CAR-2018 (Department of Economic Development and Innovation of the Government of La Rioja) and FPI-UR 2015 (University of La Rioja) support RBP and MGSR, respectively. IVD awarded the ADER I+D+i (2019) fellowship by the Rioja Agency of Economic Development (La Rioja, Spain). The Government of Spain currently supports RCH with a Ramón y Cajal, government of Spain contract award (RYC-2016- 19939).

Becas Chile (CONICYT) Fulbright (US Department of State) 72110760 UC Berkeley (ESPM) scholarships UCANR Integrated Hardwood Range Management Program Nature Conservancy Point Blue

A significant restructuring of vineyards is currently taking place in the European Union (EU) as a result of the implementation of a restructuring and conversion of vineyards regulation (CE 1493/1999) in southwest Europe, so that trellis vineyards are rapidly replacing traditional vineyards (e.g., surface area from 18.1 % in 2010 to 34 % in 2015 in Castilla-La Mancha, Central Spain). These changes may influence patterns of space use in birds, which may avoid modified habitats. We assess how the location of traditional and trellis vineyards might influence the distribution of great bustard (Otis tarda), a globally threatened species. We estimate Resource Selection Functions (RSFs) to quantify the relative probability of use of different areas by the great bustards, and use the RSF’s to simulated scenarios of conversion from traditional to trellis vineyards (low - 10 %, medium - 30 %, and high rate - 60 %) to quantify the potential impact of such modifications on the availability of suitable great bustard habitat. Our results revealed that great bustards significantly avoid trellis vineyards, especially at closer distances. Transition scenarios show how an increase in the proportion of traditional vineyards converted to trellis vineyards greatly decrease the proportion of suitable habitat for great bustard. Compared to current conditions, the percentage loss of suitable habitat increased steadily with higher rates of converted vineyards, up to 60 % loss of suitable habitat at the highest rate of conversion. Because the effect of transforming traditional vineyards to trellis vineyards depends both on the amount of habitat available for bustards before the transformation occurs and on the overall area covered by vineyards, a correct estimation of transformable vineyard area will require a case-by-case assessment to assure a low impact on bustard populations. We identified alternative vineyard management options that would mitigate impacts on the great bustard populations., This work was supported by the Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología (MCYT-REN2003-07851/GLO and CGL2004-02568/BOS). FC was supported by the Andalucía Talent Hub Program launched by the Andalusian Knowledge Agency, cofounded by the European Union’s Seventh Framework Program, Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions (COFUND–Grant Agreement n° 291780) and the Ministry of Economy, Innovation, Science and Employment of the Junta de Andalucía, and by the University of Maryland.

Organic management has the potential to mitigate negative impacts of intensive farming on biodiversity. We aimed to determine the effects of management system (organic vs. conventional), local habitat conditions and the surrounding landscape on ground-dwelling spiders (Arachnida: Araneae) in vineyards. We studied spider species richness, abundance and community composition in fifteen pairs of conventional and organic vineyards along a gradient of landscape composition in Germany. In spite of positive effects of organic management on the inter-row vegetation and soil organic matter, this management system only moderately enhanced species richness of spiders compared to conventional vineyards and did not have the strong positive effects on spider densities known from other cropping systems. Instead, due to high densities of the dominant species Pardosa agrestis, spider abundance was highest in landscapes with high vineyard cover. Densities of spiders other than P. agrestis increased with proximity to semi-natural habitats (SNH). Spider community composition was shaped by management system and cover of SNH. Our results suggest that organic vineyards still promote spiders relative to conventional vineyards, but less strongly than in other cropping systems. In addition, semi-natural habitats enhance the spider fauna in viticultural landscapes and may thus facilitate natural pest control.

Biochar application to agricultural soils has proved to substantially modify the plant–soil–water relationship and lead mostly to a quantitative increase in agricultural production through physical, chemical and biological mechanisms. Nevertheless, the impact of biochar on qualitative traits of agricultural production needs to be further assessed. The effect of biochar application on vine yield and grape quality parameters is here investigated in a non-irrigated vineyard in Tuscany (central Italy). Results from four harvest-years showed a higher productivity, up to 66%, of treated plots with respect to their controls, while no significant differences were observed in grape quality parameters. The observed increase in productivity was inversely correlated with rainfall in the vegetative period, confirming the key role of biochar in regulating plant water availability. These findings support the feasibility of a biochar-based strategy as an effective adaptation measure to reduce the impact of water stress periods with no negative effects on grape quality.

Following the recent detection of bois noir, X-disease and aster yellow (AY) in Canadian vineyards, a survey was conducted in 2006–2008 in vineyards located in Ontario (ON), British Columbia (BC) and Quebec (QC). PCR tests were used to detect phytoplasmas in grapevine cultivars and leafhopper species, and identify phytoplasma strains. The overall detection of phytoplasmas was

It is well known that agricultural production contributes to global warming through the release of greenhouse gases CO2, N2O, and CH4, the most potent of which is N2O. However, most N2O emission studies focus on intensively managed, annual cropping systems. Few have documented greenhouse gas production in perennial crops, which often have substantially different agricultural management practices and growth patterns compared to annual crops. Hence, the objectives of this study were to (1) quantify seasonal and annual direct N2O emissions from a Mediterranean vineyard and (2) determine how conventional management practices such as irrigation, fertigation, cover cropping and tillage affect the magnitude and duration of N2O emissions. This study took place in a wine grape vineyard (Vitis vinifera) in Arbuckle, CA over a two-year period using closed-flux chamber measurements. Annual emissions totaled 3.92 kg N2O–N ha−1 the first year, when a leguminous cover crop was planted in the alleys, while emissions in the second year when the alleys were fallow showed a 7-fold reduction, reaching only 0.56 kg N2O–N ha−1. During the growing season of both years, fertigation events in the crop rows produced slightly increased emissions, ranging from 11 to 23 g N2O–N ha−1 day−1 and lasting less than one week, compared to the low background values of 0.5 g N2O–N ha−1 day−1. The largest fluxes occurred during the dormant season in response to the first precipitation event of the year, especially in the alleys. Nitrous oxide emissions following precipitation events in the second year, when the alleys were fallow, did not follow the same pattern, indicating the significant influence of cover crop-derived N (and C), when coupled with precipitation events, on annual N2O emissions. The results of this study indicate that the effects of individual management practices such as cover cropping may not be seen immediately, but instead act in sequence with other events when conditions are favorable for N2O production. Hence, when determining specific management practices to employ, it is important to recognize the interaction between management, climatic events, and time as important drivers in total N2O production.

Non-native plant distribution and community composition, along with an array of environmental factors, were examined in 31 hedgerows, an archetypal class of conservation linkage, in the northern part of California's Central Valley. Row crop, orchard, and vineyard agriculture dominate this area, and hedgerows have been popular for well over a decade. Seven groups of explanatory data (environmental, historical, landscape, management, spatial, structural, and biological) were used to determine the strongest correlates of spatially-explicit patterns of non-native plants within and immediately surrounding hedgerows. In 15 hedgerows, a field experiment tested the effect of degree of shading on non-native plant diversity and cover. The results of this project showed that: (1) Hedgerows harbored a flora of non-native plants richer than the surrounding matrix and that invasion was spatially structured. (2) Edges were more invaded than interiors in terms of both non-native richness and percent cover. (3) Differences between edges and interiors were likely due to shade. (4) Community-level patterns were most strongly correlated with the environmental, historical, structural and/or landscape explanatory variables. (5) Matrix types affected the non-native plant community in different ways, and the direction of those relationships was influenced by plant dispersal mode. This research revealed that hedgerows can function as barriers to plant invasion if managed appropriately. Results supported the idea that these features may function as invasion conduits but perhaps not as major sources for invasion into agricultural fields. Specific recommendations are made regarding key factors (management, site, and species characteristics) influencing invasion, with particular emphasis on the role of shade, matrix characteristics, and plant dispersal mode.

Most European vineyard soils exhibit low soil fertility. They are highly vulnerable to erosion, low in soil organic matter content and, therefore, in water holding capacity and nitrate retention. The applications of biochar and biochar-compost are said to address some of these issues. We tested the ability of these amendments to improve soil quality and plant production quality in a 30-year-old vineyard in Valais, Switzerland. The amendments of biochar alone (8 t ha−1, produced from wood at 500 °C), aerobic compost (55 t ha−1) and biochar-compost (8 t ha−1 + 55 t ha−1, mixed before the composting process) were compared to an un-amended control soil. During the years 2011, 2012 and 2013 various vine and green cover growth, vine health and grape quality parameters were monitored. Biochar and biochar-compost treatments induced only small, economically irrelevant and mostly non-significant effects over the three years. We concluded that topsoil application of higher amounts of biochar has no immediate economic value for vine growing in poor fertility, alkaline, temperate soil.

Biochar amendment to soil has been proposed as a mechanism to mitigate climate change through an array of mechanisms; one being the mitigation of soil nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions. Yet the extent and mechanisms through which this may be achieved in temperate agroecosystems is uncertain. We used a pine chip biochar produced at a moderate temperature (550 °C, PC biochar) and a walnut shell biochar produced at a higher temperature (900 °C, WS biochar). Biochar was applied at 10 Mg ha−1 to a working commercial wine grape system in North-Central California. The effects of biochar were assessed over two years at two distinct functional locations: the berm and row, which differed in N application and irrigation. N2O emissions and ancillary soil properties (NH4+, NO3, water filled pore space (WFPS), and pH) were closely monitored following management and precipitation events. Soil bulk density, cover crop yield and soil C and N were measured annually to address longer term changes in cropping system and soil properties. In the PC biochar treatment, annual cumulative N2O emissions were significantly higher than the control treatment each year (p

Sustainable agriculture requires the support of new tools for successful and low-impact management of pests and diseases at global and local scales. The implementation of cover crops is considered a promising alternative ecological structure for sustainable agriculture, because they provide refuge to natural enemies of pests. Specifically, we hypothesised that implementing cover crop vegetation in a vineyard can enhance populations of natural enemies as a measure to support conservation biological control. We analysed insect abundance and diversity on Vitis vinifera var. Tempranillo (clon RJ-26, rootstock “110-Richter”) in a Mediterranean vineyard located in La Rioja, Spain from spring to autumn 2016–2017. Two types of sampling systems (pitfall traps and vacuum sampling) were used in each of the three evaluated ground cover management approaches (n = 3): (i) tillage, (ii) spontaneous cover, and (iii) flower-driven cover. A total of 58 families that belonged to four functional subgroups of insects (predators, parasitoids, phytophagous insects, and pollinators) were found. Overall, differences among the three treatments were only detected for total abundance of insects collected in the ground traps, and the “spontaneous cover” treatment showed significantly higher predator richness and abundance. However, the higher Shannon–Wiener value was recorded for “flower-driven cover” at both the ground and canopy levels. In addition, the abundance of predators, parasitoids and phytophagous insects in the ground traps for both cover crop treatments was more than two times higher than that observed in “tillage” treatment. Several predator taxa, such as ants, ground beetles, earwigs, and vespoid wasps had significantly higher representation under spontaneous cover treatment. Moreover, for parasitoids, the “flower-driven cover” treatment revealed higher Hill numbers values (0D, 1D, and 2D) at the canopy level, although no significant differences were observed. These results indicate that vegetation cover could be used to promote beneficial entomofauna in v, This study was grant supported by the Ministry of Economy andCompetitiveness (AGL2014-53336R). MGSR and AVB were supported by a fellowship from the University of La Rioja (Spain) (FPI-UR 2015and 2018, respectively). RCH is currently supported by a Ramón y Cajalaward (RYC-2016-19939).

Knowing underlying practices for current greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is a necessary precursor for developing best management practices aimed at reducing N2O emissions. The effect of no-till management on nitrous oxide (N2O), a potent greenhouse gas, remains largely unclear, especially in perennial agroecosystems. The objective of this study was to compare direct N2O emissions associated with management events in a cover-cropped Mediterranean vineyard under conventional tillage (CT) versus no-till (NT) practices. This study took place in a wine grape vineyard over one full growing season, with a focus on the seven to ten days following vineyard floor management and precipitation events. Cumulative N2O emissions in the NT system were greater under both the vine and the tractor row compared to CT, with 0.13 ± 0.021 kg N2O–N ha−1 growing season−1 emitted from the CT vine compared to 0.19 ± 0.017 kg N2O–N ha−1 growing season−1 emitted from the NT vine and 0.07 ± 0.041 kg N2O–N ha−1 growing season−1 emitted from the CT row compared to 0.11 ± 0.018 kg N2O–N ha−1 growing season−1 from the NT row. Yet these variations were not significant, indicating no differences in seasonal N2O emissions following conversion from CT to NT compared to long-term CT management. Individual management events such as fertilization and cover cropping, however, had a major impact on seasonal emissions, indicating that management events play a critical role in N2O emission patterns.

Many generalist predators do not persist in crops year-round, and must colonize crops on a seasonal basis from natural vegetation. We monitored the spider community in the air, on the ground, and in the foliage of California vineyards and neighboring oak-woodlands, to assess whether dispersal from natural habitats influences the abundance and species diversity of spiders in agroecosystems. Early in the growing-season, low spider numbers in vineyard foliage indicated that few spiders overwintered in the vineyard. Aerial dispersal did not, however, occur primarily in the spring when generalist predators are likely to be important in pest suppression, but in mid-summer, while dispersal activity on the ground did not change over time. Aerial collection traps showed greater similarity to spider composition in vineyard foliage than ground collection traps, indicating that spiders in vineyards disperse more by air than over ground. Dwarf spiders (Linyphiidae) dominated spider composition on aerial traps but were not abundant on the vine, while other spider species showed an opposing pattern, suggesting that while spiders may have entered vineyards by air, other factors may have also contributed to spider composition in vineyards. These results are discussed with respect to control of vineyard pests and the establishment of spiders in vineyard agroecosystems.

Land use and land cover change (LUCC) studies are drawing increased attention due to their importance in ecosystem management. Post-classification change detection provides a “from-to” change matrix; however, traditional analysis of the change matrix is not sufficient to provide systematic signals of LUCC. This paper analyzes the details of the matrix to compute the quantity, allocation, and dominant signals of land use and land cover (LULC) transitions in a popular tourist destination, the Lower Hunter of New South Wales, Australia. We use classified maps that were derived from Landsat imageries of 1985 and 2005. We applied a change detection analysis based on an extended transition matrix of the two classified maps, and extracted systematic transitions. We then explored how changes are influenced by the resolution of the maps. The net quantity change less than 7% of the study area, while the total change is more than 28%, the latter due to considerable swap changes. Multiple-resolution analysis reveals that about half of the total change is attributable to spatial reallocation of the categories over distances less than 2.3 km. Vineyard has experienced substantial changes in terms of gross gains and gross losses, in spite of its small net change. The three transitions: Pasture/scrubland to Vineyard, Vineyard to Pasture/scrubland and Vineyard to Built-up are the systematic transitions in the landscape. The transition of Vineyard to Built-up around the centre of the study area and the expansion of Vineyard away from centre is associated with tourism, which is also extending into the new outer vineyards and wineries. This in-depth analysis has enabled us to quantify and to visualize the major signals of transitions of LULC categories in the study region.

Grapevine yield, vigour, fruit quality and vineyard dynamics were studied in the Estremadura Region of Portugal with a Mediterranean oceanic bioclimate. A 3-year study was carried out in a 15-year-old ‘Cabernet Sauvignon’ non-irrigated vineyard. Three treatments were compared: soil tillage (control), permanent resident vegetation, and permanent sown cover crop. The sward treatments induced changes in the weed dynamics by increasing annual and perennial grasses and perennial broad-leaved species, while annual broad-leaved species spread and persisted under a tillage system. Compared to soil tillage, the two sward treatments showed a higher water use, primarily during the spring. In the third season of the experiment, compared to cultivation treatment the two sward treatments showed a significant, favourable reduction in vine vegetative growth. The sward treatments did not affect grapevine yield or berry sugar accumulation compared to the control, but reduced must acidity and increased berry skin total phenols and anthocyanins.

The landscape of Mediterranean mountain areas in north-eastern Spain, in particular lands traditionally devoted to vineyard cropping, is rapidly changing. This is due to new terrace construction, being built without any environmental impact considerations utilizing heavy machinery. The European Union regulation policy for vineyards’ restructuring, which subsidize up to 50% of the land terracing costs, encourages this activity. A clear example of this situation occurs in the Priorat region (Catalonia, NE Spain), where vineyards were first cultivated in the XII century on hillslopes with terracing systems utilizing small stone walls. However, since the 1980s–1990s, the viticulture boom is based on a new terracing system, relying on mechanization and resulting in high negative environmental and landscape impacts. This paper tackles several aspects that this modern land terracing/vineyard system has initiated in the Priorat: (a) the land use changes and rates of changes during the last two decades, in order to determine the magnitude of the environmental and landscape dynamics problem, (b) the assessment of the terrain morphology changes due to land terracing (volumes of soil displaced, slope morphology and slope degree changes) and (c) an analysis of the cost of the restructuring operations, mainly land terracing, subsidized by the EU policy for vineyards’ restructuring. In this respect, the effects of this policy are discussed. The results show that modern land terracing methods produce huge material displacements (about 9460 ± 900 Mg ha −1 ). These figures approximate the range of catastrophic natural mass movements and confirm land terracing as an antrophic geomorphic processes which is rapidly reshaping the terrain morphology. Land terracing costs, which represent 34% of the total costs for a new terraced vineyard, is the operation which receives the maximum EU subsidy. This has encouraged vine growers in the Priorat region to create new plantations, increasing significantly the transformation rate from 7.5 ha year −1 between 1986 and 1998 to 36.1 ha year −1 in the 1998–2003 period.

This paper deals with nutrient (N and P) losses by runoff in vineyards of the Penedes area (north-eastern Spain), and their relationship with rainfall erosivity. The study was carried out in a commercial vineyard, which was levelled previous to vineyard establishment in order to adapt fields to mechanised labours, leaving on top of the surface soils very low in organic matter content and very susceptible to erosion. After levelling, large inputs of organic wastes before and/or after planting were incorporated in order to improve soil properties. The analysis was done under natural rainfall during the period 2000–2001, in which 17 rainfall events were recorded. Runoff ratios varied from 2.9 to 28.6%, except for two extreme events in which by up to 55.8 and 80% of rainfall ran off, respectively. Sediment concentration in runoff was very variable ranging between 2.9 and 25.3 g L −1 depending on the rainfall erosivity, which also affected nutrient losses. Erosion processes exported significant amounts of nutrients, which represent about 8 kg ha −1 year −1 of N and 6.5 kg ha −1 year −1 of P, without taking into account losses in the extreme events. The results point out that most soil and nutrient losses are due to a small number of events recorded every year, which can contribute to more than 60% annual soil and nutrient losses.

Soil algae can perform important services for agro-ecosystems and functions as a bioindicator for soil quality. Communities of topsoil algae were studied (species composition and counts) in four different agro-ecosystems in relation to different land uses, including tillage. The chosen agro-ecosystems were an intensively-cultivated corn (Zea mays L.) field, a vineyard, a pasture and a field abandoned for 12 years. In all, 92 algal species were identified in the different ecosystems, which were sampled twice (March and May). In 2001 the main algal species were Cyanophyceae, Chlamydophyceae, and Chlorophyceae. The greatest species richness of algal species was recorded in the pasture, followed by the abandoned field, the corn field and the vineyard. Using a dilution method on solid media to count the algae enabled the distinction and separate quantification of cyanophytes, diatoms and greenish algae (cholorophytes (CH) + xanthophytes (X) + eustigmatophytes (E)). This last group of greenish algae dominated at all four sites, together with cyanophytes in the pasture and the abandoned field, whereas cyanophytes were almost absent in the vineyard. The highest mean abundance of algal cells in the 0–2 cm soil layer was found in the abandoned field and in the pasture, while it was lower in the corn field and in the vineyard. The undisturbed sites (abandoned field and, to some extent, pasture) were also characterised by a greater diversity of algae. Disturbance (tillage and use of pesticides) seemed to have a strong effect on both the composition and the density of the algal communities. Cyanophytes (Calothrix sp., Cylindrospermum sp., Pseudoanabaena sp., Scytonema sp. and Thricormus sp.) seemed to be particularly sensitive to disturbance. Heavy metals residues in the soil, especially Cu (linked to fungicide sprays, used particularly in vineyards), may be a factor affecting the abundance of cyanobacteria. It would be reasonable to conclude that the structure of soil algal communities is affected more by soil use rather than by physico-chemical soil parameters. Cyanobacteria showed the most evident response in the different agro-ecosystems, and therefore seem to be the most suitable group to consider as a soil bioindicator of land use.