Abstract
Sustainable agriculture largely depends on soil biodiversity and requires efficient methods to assess the effectiveness of agronomic planning. Knowledge of the landscape and relative pedosite is enriched by data on the soil microarthropod community, which represent useful bio-indicators for early soil-quality detection in land-use change (LUC). In the hilly Maremma region of Grosseto, Italy, two areas, a >10ys meadow converted into a vineyard and an old biodynamic vineyard (no-LUC), were selected for evaluating the LUC effect. For maintaining soil vitality and ecosystem services by meadow, the vineyard was planted and cultivated using criteria of the patented “Corino method”. The aim was to evaluate the LUC impact, within one year, by assessing parameters characterizing soil properties and soil microarthropod communities after the vineyard was planted. The adopted preservative method in the new vineyards did not show a detrimental impact on the biodiversity of soil microarthropods, and in particular, additional mulching contributed to a quick recovery from soil stress due to working the plantation. In the short term, the adopted agricultural context confirmed that the targeted objectives preserved the soil quality and functionality.
Highlights
Viticulture is the primary activity in the local agricultural economy; its ancestral link with grapes hasgrapes been strong since the time the Etruscans, who settled insettled this area between link with has been strong sinceof the time of the Etruscans, who in this area the sixth and the first between the sixth andcentury the firstB.C
Soil arthropod biodiversity was used as an indicator to assess the impact of land-use change (LUC) when planting vineyards in a meadow
Monitoring soil biodiversity enables the detection of biodiversity hot spots, as well as areas susceptible to changes, and helps to achieve successful implementation of ecosystem management
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. In terms of soil functionality maintenance, high-quality soils have ensured the integration of soil productivity with other ecosystem services. During the last few years, European policies have enhanced compliance and rules to avoid land degradation [1]. Sustainable development goals for soil management address efforts of rural development and, simultaneously, protection of soil functionality [2]. To support short-term needs and long-term (global) goals, the conventional practices for the new planting of vineyards should be reviewed
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