Varying Responses of Invertebrates to Biodynamic, Organic and Conventional Viticulture

Alternative farming methods must be deployed to mitigate the detrimental impacts of intensive agriculture on climate, biodiversity, and ecosystem services. Organic biodynamic are environmental-friendly practices that progressively replace conventional agriculture. While potential biodiversity benefits organic vs . have been studied repeatedly, effects remain ill-understood. We investigated these three main management regimes, their interaction with ground vegetation cover, vineyard invertebrate communities in SW Switzerland. Invertebrates were sampled times during season 2016, focusing ground-dwelling (pitfall traps) epiphytic (sweep-netting) invertebrates, abundance was modelled for single, additive, interactive influences cover. Overall, and, but a lesser degree, vineyards provided better conditions than vineyards. On one hand, there significant between cover invertebrates positive linear increase organic, curvilinear relationship negative response The primarily affected by regime alone, i.e. without any characteristics, leading much higher abundances compared vineyards, while did not differ from other two regimes. interpret patterns as follows: grape production offers more suitable habitat due spatially heterogenous also less often disturbed (compared management) or destroyed conventional) line predictions intermediate disturbance hypothesis. Biodynamic viticultural regimes provide is either too mineral (conventional: widely eliminated) subject soil happening frequently through ploughing (biodynamic). conclude alternative do promote agro-ecosystems, especially so management.