Impact of Environmental Conditions and Management on Soil Arthropod Communities in Vineyard Ecosystems

Isabella Ghiglieno,Matteo Ventura,Fabio Gatti,Gianni Gilioli,Anna Simonetto,Leonardo Valenti,Pierluigi Donna,Marco Tonni,Giorgio Sperandio

doi:10.3390/su132111999

Isabella Ghiglieno, Matteo Ventura + Show 7 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/su132111999

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Abstract

The importance of soil biodiversity and soil-based ecosystem services in the context of viticulture has recently been emphasized. Over 85% of soil fauna species richness is represented by edaphic arthropod communities. Edaphic arthropod responses to soil characteristics and management practices can be considered as good bioindicators of soil quality. Here, 168 soil samples that were collected from 2014 to 2019 in several vineyards of different Italian wine-growing areas were analyzed to explore how arthropod communities respond to several factors that are characteristic of vineyard ecosystems. The analysis of the combined effects of the primary abiotic variables (the chemical and physical characteristics of soil) and management practices (organic vs. conventional, soil inter-row management) on soil biological quality (assessed by QBS-ar index) identified soil temperature and soil texture as the abiotic factors exerting the most significant effect on the QBS-ar values. Organic vineyards exhibited higher QBS-ar values compared to those of conventionally managed vineyards, and subsoiling negatively influenced the soil biological quality.

Highlights

Soil biota is the primary actor in soil ecological processes and plays a pivotal role in the provisioning of soil-based ecosystem services [1,2]
The QBS-ar index is an acronym of soil biological quality-arthropods and is one of the most frequently applied indexes for the evaluation of edaphic arthropod communities in the agricultural sector
This index was proposed by Parisi [18], and its application proved to be useful in discriminating different disturbance levels related to different land use [19,20]

Summary

Introduction

Soil biota is the primary actor in soil ecological processes and plays a pivotal role in the provisioning of soil-based ecosystem services [1,2]. Arthropod community diversity can be considered as a good bioindicator of soil quality [5,6]. The QBS-ar index is an acronym of soil biological quality-arthropods (in Italian “Qualità Biologica del Suolo”) and is one of the most frequently applied indexes for the evaluation of edaphic arthropod communities in the agricultural sector. This index was proposed by Parisi [18], and its application proved to be useful in discriminating different disturbance levels related to different land use [19,20]

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Conclusion