Local conditions matter: Minimal and variable effects of soil disturbance on microbial communities and functions in European vineyards

Steiner, Magdalena; Pingel, Martin; Falquet, Laurent; Giffard, Brice; Griesser, Michaela; Leyer, Ilona; Preda, Cristina; Uzman, Deniz; Bacher, Sven; Annette, Reineke

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0280516

Cited by 8 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 79 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…These effects are particularly pronounced in long-term experimental set-ups 12 . In a recent European study, we used parts of the soil microbial community data of this work for an investigation of the relative effects of soil disturbance and soil variables on microbial community composition in vineyards at larger geographic scales 31 . The results of this European investigation showed that, at larger geographic scales, the effect of soil disturbance is fairly small compared to soil variables and other region-specific variables.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disentangling the mixed effects of soil management on microbial diversity and soil functions: A case study in vineyards

Pingel

Annette

Leyer

2023

Sci Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Promoting soil functioning by maintaining soil microbial diversity and activity is central for sustainable agriculture. In viticulture, soil management often includes tillage, which poses a multifaceted disturbance to the soil environment and has direct and indirect effects on soil microbial diversity and soil functioning. However, the challenge of disentangling the effects of different soil management practices on soil microbial diversity and functioning has rarely been addressed. In this study, we investigated the effects of soil management on soil bacterial and fungal diversity as well as soil functions (soil respiration and decomposition) using a balanced experimental design with four soil management types in nine vineyards in Germany. Application of structural equation modelling enabled us to investigate the causal relationships of soil disturbance, vegetation cover, and plant richness on soil properties, microbial diversity, and soil functions. We could show that soil disturbance by tillage increased bacterial diversity but decreased fungal diversity. We identified a positive effect of plant diversity on bacterial diversity. Soil respiration showed a positive response to soil disturbance, while decomposition was negatively affected in highly disturbed soils via mediated effects of vegetation removal. Our results contribute to the understanding of direct and indirect effects of vineyard soil management on soil life and aids designing targeted recommendations for agricultural soil management.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disentangling the mixed effects of soil management on microbial diversity and soil functions: A case study in vineyards

Pingel

Annette

Leyer

2023

Sci Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Microbial soil respiration was another driver of Acari and Collembola abundances in the investigated vineyard soils. Microbial soil respiration in this context is mostly used as an indicator of the metabolic activity of soil organisms [25] and can be positively influenced through vegetation cover [40]. Several authors showed a synergistic effect of microbial soil respiration and microarthropod abundance [68][69][70], e.g., grazing Collembola can increase fungal respiration [68].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Microbial soil respiration rates were measured in 2016 with a micro-respirometer [39] from two neighboring inter-rows per treatment and vineyard, with 4.5 g of fresh soil moisturized to water saturation and measured for about 22 h. The microbial soil respiration was calculated as the mean consumption rate of oxygen (µg O 2 × h −1 × 1 g dry soil). Results obtained from the samples collected in 2016 were used for model calculation (for detailed results see Table S4) for both years as relatively stable values were determined between years in study vineyards in Switzerland within the European project PromESSinG (correlation coefficient 0.718 **; see also comment for soil respiration stability across years in Table S4, further general details in Steiner et al (2023) [40]).…”

Section: Soil Analyses and Microbial Soil Respirationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inter-Row Management and Clay Content Influence Acari and Collembola Abundances in Vineyards

Möth,

Khalil,

Rizzoli

et al. 2023

Horticulturae

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Viticulture is a perennial cropping system that provides large inter-row space as a non-crop habitat for a range of different taxa. Extensive vegetation management has been shown to increase biodiversity and ecosystem service provision in vineyards. Important soil ecosystem services are decomposition, nutrient cycling, and pest regulation provided by the mesofauna (e.g., Acari and Collembola). However, studies investigating the effects of inter-row management on soil mesofauna are scarce. We studied the effect of inter-row management intensity (complete vegetation cover, alternating vegetation cover, and bare ground) and local pedoclimatic conditions on Acari and Collembola in nine Austrian vineyards. Our results showed that the clay content of the soil was the most important factor and increased the abundances of both analyzed taxa. Complete and alternating vegetation cover increased their abundance in comparison to bare ground management. Higher soil respiration slightly contributed to higher abundances of those two taxa in both years. In conclusion, besides the positive effects of the clay content in the soil, complete and alternating vegetation cover are feasible management practices for increasing soil mesofauna in vineyards.

show abstract

“…Raw sequencing data are stored at the European Nucleotide Archive retrievable with the accession number PRJEB32992 (http://www.ebi.ac.uk/ena/data/view/PRJEB32992). OTU tables, taxonomy tables, vineyard metadata and grape quality data are available from the Dryad Digital Repository: https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.4tmpg4fjv (Steiner et al., 2024).…”

Section: Peer Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of pesticides on soil bacterial, fungal and protist communities, soil functions and grape quality in vineyards

Steiner,

Falquet,

Fragnière

et al. 2024

Ecol Sol and Evidence

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Pesticides can have unintentional effects on non‐target organisms and change biotic communities. Such changes might be particularly important in soil microbial communities, which drive many ecosystem functions and may affect crop quality. Here, we investigated, in a three‐year study, how vegetation control (by herbicide application) and soil copper content (from long‐term copper‐based fungicide application) affect biodiversity and the community structure of soil bacteria, fungi and protists, and associated soil functions (respiration, decomposition) in Swiss vineyards. Furthermore, we determined the effects of these two management practices on grape quality as the most direct ecosystem service to farmers. Across all study years, the community composition of microorganisms was affected by herbicide application, however, a significant loss of operational taxonomic units (OTUs) was only observed in fungi and protists. Soil copper content reduced OTU richness of bacteria and protists in some years but had no significant effect on fungal richness. Copper changed the community composition in all three groups of soil microorganisms. While we found no effect of copper on soil functions, herbicide application reduced microbial respiration and biomass by about 39% and 45%, respectively. However, decomposition rates remained virtually unchanged by any pesticide. Yeast assimilable nitrogen (YAN) levels in grape were below the critical threshold of 140 mg/L in 40% of the vineyards without herbicide application and the variety Chasselas, whereas in vineyards with herbicide application, it was only 20%. Application of pesticides led to changes in richness and composition of soil microbial communities and directly reduced some soil functions (microbial biomass and respiration) but not all (decomposition). Some grape quality parameters can be indirectly enhanced by pesticide application, highlighting the trade‐off between the interests of nature conservation and the interests of the farmer. Balancing these two diverging interests requires the establishment of alternative vineyard management allowing reduced pesticide application.

show abstract

Local conditions matter: Minimal and variable effects of soil disturbance on microbial communities and functions in European vineyards

Cited by 8 publications

References 79 publications

Disentangling the mixed effects of soil management on microbial diversity and soil functions: A case study in vineyards

Disentangling the mixed effects of soil management on microbial diversity and soil functions: A case study in vineyards

Inter-Row Management and Clay Content Influence Acari and Collembola Abundances in Vineyards

Effects of pesticides on soil bacterial, fungal and protist communities, soil functions and grape quality in vineyards

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About