In agriculture, the increasing use of pesticides is a main driver of biodiversity loss. Vineyards are among the most intensively managed agroecosystems where frequent soil tillage and frequent fungicide treatments. In Germany only 1 % of the agricultural area is cultivated with grapevine, but one third of the fungicides are applied there. Soil fungi, springtails and spiders represent an important part of overall and functional biodiversity in vineyards. Besides direct (lethal) effects on all three organism groups on their own, the high levels of fungicide applications in vineyards could undermine the foundation of a whole trophic network. Approaches to replace or reduce synthetic fungicides are organic farming and the cultivation of fungus-resistant crops. We aim to quantify the effects of reduced spraying events in fungus-resistant grape varieties (PIWIs) under both conventional and organic management on three important groups of functional biodiversity: soil fungi, soil-dwelling springtails and ground-dwelling spiders. We are going to compare biomass and diversity of these organisms and will quantify the ecosystem services litter decomposition and pest control provided by the organisms.

Sebastian Kolb

Jo Marie Reiff

Kai Riess

Martin Entling

2022-2024

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)

Julius Kühn-Institute, Federal Research Centre for Cultivated Plants, Institute for Plant Protection in Fruit Crops and Viticulture, Siebeldingen, Germany

Biodiversity, ecosystem function (pest control); vineyards; spiders, springtails, fungi; Germany