A trait-based approach in a Mediterranean vineyard: Effects of agricultural management on the functional structure of plant communities

Consistent response of weeds according to Grime's CSR strategies along disturbance and resource gradients in Bordeaux vineyards

“…To summarise, the effect of tillage is very consistent across studies, and we confirmed here that tillage favoured species with a ruderal strategy, an annual life cycle (Guerra et al, 2021; Hall et al, 2020; Mainardis et al, 2020) and an early flowering onset (Bopp et al, 2022; Guerra et al, 2021). The picture is more mixed for herbicides and mowing suggesting that they may also depend on other factors.…”

“…The picture is more mixed for herbicides and mowing suggesting that they may also depend on other factors. For example, in summer samplings, we found that herbicides selected small‐sized early flowering species as found by Bopp et al (2022) in three other wine regions of France, while other studies found that species in sprayed plots were rather high‐sized (Guerra et al, 2021; MacLaren et al, 2019) and late flowering (Guerra et al, 2021). This could also be explained by the existence of several viable strategies in sprayed vineyards, a pure ruderal strategy or a combined competitive‐ruderal strategy, which implies partly different trait values.…”

“…This could also be explained by the existence of several viable strategies in sprayed vineyards, a pure ruderal strategy or a combined competitive‐ruderal strategy, which implies partly different trait values. Finally, both Guerra et al (2021) and Hall et al (2020) highlighted that mowing selects hemicryptophytes, the former with a stress‐tolerant strategy, the latter with a competitive strategy. Our results partly reconcile these two studies since both hemicryptophytes with a C and CS strategy were selected by mowing, showing that again several strategies are viable.…”

“…However, due to the high diversity of species found in vineyards (e.g., around 900 species in France [Maillet, 2006]), taxonomic approaches have failed to highlight consistent responses of weeds to management practices. More recently, an increasing number of studies have investigated the response of weed communities to vineyard management, using a trait‐based approach (Bopp et al, 2022; Guerra et al, 2021; Hall et al, 2020; Kazakou et al, 2016; MacLaren et al, 2019; Mainardis et al, 2020). MacLaren et al (2019) showed that herbicide‐treated sites promoted relatively tall, small‐seeded weeds, indicators of a ruderal‐competitive life strategy.…”

Use of Under-Vine Living Mulches to Control Noxious Weeds in Irrigated Mediterranean Vineyards

“…In the context of climate change, given the predictions of reduced rainfall in the Mediterranean basin [ 4 ], the area occupied by irrigated vineyards is expected to increase. Although this could prevent the detrimental effects of water shortage on vineyard yields [ 5 ], it could also have other undesirable effects, such as an increase in the presence of competitive and noxious weed species [ 6 , 7 ]. Winegrowers have tried to eradicate weeds in vineyards through conventional management based on the recurrent application of mechanical (tillage) and/or chemical (herbicides) control methods.…”