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

Abstract

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.

The Effect of Cover Crops on the Biodiversity and Abundance of Ground-Dwelling Arthropods in a Mediterranean Pear Orchard

“…This is in contrast with previous studies reporting higher ant abundances under cover-cropping management [65][66][67][68]; however, it should be noted that most of these studies compared soils with cover crops with recently tilled soils, and intense tillage is known to have a detrimental effect on ant abundances [69]. Regarding springtails, our results are in agreement with those of Buchholz et al [70], who stated that the abundance and diversity of surface-dwelling springtails were diminished by the greater plant biomass provided by covers. Beetles (i.e., carabids and staphylinids) and spiders (i.e., lycosids and linyphiids) were more numerous on the ground with a sown cover.…”

“…Cover crops may affect ground-dwelling arthropods in several ways. For instance, by creating physical barriers that hamper their movement on the ground surface and/or by increasing the availability of niches in habitats [70,78,79]. In the present work, these two factors could explain the decline of springtails observed in the plots with a sown cover.…”

“…In the present work, these two factors could explain the decline of springtails observed in the plots with a sown cover. Buchholz et al [70] argued that plant covers not only hinder the rapid movement of springtails, increasing the risk of them falling prey, but also benefit the establishment of predators. In our case, lycosids, that benefited from the sown covers, are known to prey on springtails [80,81].…”

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

“…These traps were left in the field for 12 days. Collected invertebrates were stored in 80% ethanol for further analysis (see Buchholz et al 2017 for details of the sampling method). Pitfall catches reflect the activity and density of species and results should be presented as activity density (Topping and Sunderland 1992).…”

“…The respective plant communities determine the physical structure, climatic conditions, food and nesting resources in most habitats and therefore exert considerable influence on the distribution and interactions of animal species (Lawton 1983;McCoy and Bell 1991) and ecosystem services (Winter et al 2018). Spontaneous vegetation and/ or seeded cover crops have a great impact on abundance and diversity of beneficial arthropods in vineyards (Buchholz et al 2017;Franin et al 2016). Flowering plants provide nectar and pollen resources to flower-visiting insects (Ambrosino et al 2006;Kratschmer et al 2019).…”