Degradation of traditional vineyards in Slovakia by abandonment and soil erosion: A case‐study of Vráble

Abstract

We evaluated the effect of increased erosion events and decreased management intensity on the degradation of traditional vineyards. The study area is located near Vráble, Slovakia, in an area with warm dry climate with mild winters, and Luvisol and Regosol soils. For the erosion measurements, we used the pole height method, which uses vineyard poles as a passive soil-surface marker. The erosion of a tilled vineyard increased from 33.47 Mg ha À1 yr À1 in the period 1983-2010 to 55.34 Mg ha À1 yr À1 in the period 2010-2021. In comparison, the erosion of the hoed and grassed vineyard has not changed significantly. We also quantified the regeneration of soil in abandoned vineyards. An average increase in level of the soil surface level after abandonment in 2010 was 0.56 mm yr À1 . A control plot showed minimal change in the average exposed pole height over 10 years and confirmed the reliability of the pole height method. Land cover and management practices have dramatically changed in the study area over the last decade. Only 27.16% of the total vineyard area is currently tilled and potentially threatened by soil erosion. On the other hand, 35.73% of the vineyards are abandoned; abandonment is expected to continue into the future.Therefore, the loss of management associated with vineyard abandonment is more strongly linked to their degradation than increased soil erosion intensity.