Effects of management intensity on plant biodiversity and related ecosystem services in Austrian, French, Romanian

and Spanish vineyards

Silvia Winter1, Penke, N.1, Kriechbaum, M.1, Popescu, D.2, Lora, A.3, Sánchez de la Cuesta, R.3, Guzmán, G.4, Cabezas, J.M.4, Gómez, J.A.4, Paredes, D.5, Jung, V.6, Fertil, A.6, Schneider, A.6, Chollet, S.6, Comsa, M.7, Johann G. Zaller8

1 Institute of Integrative Nature Conservation Research, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna, Austria (BOKU) 2 University of Agriculture Science and Veterinary Medicine Cluj Napoca, Romania; 3 Department of Forestry, University of Córdoba, Córdoba, Spain; 4 Institute for Sustainable Agriculture, Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Cordoba, Spain; 5 Zaidín Experimental Station, CSIC, Granada, Spain; 6 University Rennes 1, UMR CNRS EcoBio, Paimpont, France; 7 Jidvei winery, Jidvei, Romania; 8 Institute of Zoology, BOKU

Background• Land use is the major factor influencing plant diversity and ecosystem services

• Vineyards: potentially high ecosystem service provisioning?

– Inter-row space!

– Often in hilly landscapes – more non-crop habitats

– traditional systems with multi-land use elements: fruit trees, pastures, …

Ecosystem services and disservices:Soil erosion mitigation / carbon sequestration / aesthetic values / wine yield & quality / pollination

Biodiversity-based ecosystem services in vineyards: analysing interlinkages between

plants, pollinators, soil biota and soil erosion across Europe - VineDivers

How do management intensity and landscape complexity affect

biodiversity of vascular plant and wild bee species and belowground

biota (earthworms, collembola, soil microorganisms).

How does biodiversity influence ecosystem services: soil structure,

stability and fertility, water infiltration, soil erosion, as well as yield and

quality of grapes.

Hypothesis: lower management intensity increases biodiversity and

associated ecosystem services

Research questions

Study regions

6

Montilla-Moriles, Spain

Tarnave vineyards, Rumania

Carnuntum & Leithaberg, Austria

Rainfed vineyards

Loire, Coteaux du Layon, France

Plot 1Plot 2

Plot 3

Plot 4

coloured bands

mark plots

Sampling design16 landscape cirlces (750 m radius)

In some circles paired vineyards

3 Management levels and study design

J. Zaller

Bare soil (tillage, in FR

herbicides)

Temporary vegetation

cover

Permanent vegetation

cover

4 plots in vine inter-row and (1 m2) and 4 plots under vines (1 x 0.4 m) within each

vineyard, survey of vascular plant diversity and vegetation coverage (spring, summer)

Plant biomass sampling before first management in vineyard (four 1 x 0.5 m)

Most common plant species AT – inter-row

1. Lolium perenne – seed mixture! 96/1042. Stellaria media – 94/104

3. Convolvulus arvensis - 90/1044. Taraxacum officinale agg. - 83/1045. Agropyron repens – 69/1046. Veronica persica – 62/1047. Trifolium repens – seed mixture 56/1048. Geranium pusillum – 55/104

Rasbak CC BY-SA 3.0

Willow - CC BY-SA 2.5

H. Zell - CC BY-SA 3.0

8 3 5 4 6

7

2

1

Rare species of conservation concern

1. Galium parisiense – critically endangered2. Odontites vernus agg. – endangered3. Torilis arvensis – endangered4. Geranium dissectum – regionally vulnerable5. Filago arvensis – regionally vulnerable

421 3

5

Plant diversity related ecosystem services

• Soil erosion mitigation – measurements of soil hydrological parameter, modelling of erosion patterns on landscape scale– Vegetation cover

• Carbon storage

Permanent vegetation cover significantly increased organic carbon

in Austrian soils (Bauer et al. in prep.)

• Pollination of wild plant species and fruit trees (floral resources)

Higher flower coverage significantly increases pollinator abundance and species diversity (Kratschmer et al. in prep.) – probably also increases pollination of fruit trees

Conclusions and Outlook

• In general decrease of species diversity of bare soil treatment

• No significant difference between temporary and permanent vegetationcover

• More extreme differences in management intensity – significantdifferences in plant diversity

What will be done?

• Plant trait analysis to identify differences between treatments

• Root biomass – currently two Master thesis on root distribution and biomass from AT & RO vineyards

• Master thesis landscape aesthetics survey in AT & FR

Thank you for your attention!Thanks for financial support from the biodiversa call and the national funding agencyFWF

Check out our project homepage www.vinedivers.eu for more information

Thanks to all colleagues and farmers for the allowing investigation in their vineyardsand of course my colleagues from VineDivers!Peter B., Muriel, Thomas, Sophie, Daniela, Gema, José, Peter S., Martin, ….

Questions?