Extensive vineyard management and semi-natural habitats increase biodiversity and ecosystem services: insights from a global meta-analysis
Year: 2025
Type: article
Study designs: Systematic Review, Meta-Analysis
Abstract: Biodiversity erosion is a key challenge that requires major adaptations in land use for sustainable agriculture. Globally, vineyards are among the most intensive farming systems with negative impacts on biodiversity and associated ecosystem services (ES). Nature-based solutions need to reconcile biodiversity conservation with grape production from the field to the landscape scale. In this study, we conducted a hierarchical global meta-analysis to assess the impact of various practices related to extensive management such as establishing vegetation cover, organic farming or low pesticide use on biodiversity and ES. Our analysis is based on 822 datasets extracted from 221 articles. Overall, extensive management increased biodiversity and ES provision by 14.2 % in comparison to more intensive practices. While provisioning ES, such as grape quantity and quality, showed heterogeneous reponses, biodiversity and most other ES benefited from maintaining vegetation cover in vineyards. We identified the strongest positive response to extensive management in carbon sequestration (+37.8 %), followed by erosion control (+26.4 %), soil fertility (+19.9 %), and pest control (+16.4 %). Our analysis revealed that farming practices modulated the effects of extensive management, with high-diversity cover crops enhancing, and herbicide use diminishing, the beneficial impact on biodiversity and ES. Maintaining semi-natural habitats in the landscape significantly boosted the positive effect of extensive management on pest control. Finally, organic management reduced grape yield by 20 % but it did not affect grape quality. Nature-based solutions in viticulture should be based on extensive vegetation management, diverse cover-crops and low pesticide use combined with significant amounts of semi-natural habitats in the landscape, while minimising yield loss.
Authors: Silvia Winter, Daniel Paredes, Lea Beaumelle, Rafael Alcalá Herrera, Yang Chen, Christoph Hoffmann, Mignon Sander, Dascalu Dumitraţa, Péter Batáry, Adrien Rusch
Institutions: BOKU University, Universidad de Extremadura, Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement, Ecole d'Ingénieurs de PURPAN, École Nationale Supérieure des Sciences Agronomiques de Bordeaux-Aquitaine, Santé et Agroécologie du Vignoble, Université de Toulouse, Estación Experimental del Zaidín, International Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation, University of Twente, Julius Kühn-Institut, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Cluj-Napoca, Institute of Ecology and Botany, HUN-REN Centre for Ecological Research
Language: English
Topic: Plant and soil sciences
Domain: Life Sciences
SDGs: Life on land, Zero hunger
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,750
Funders: National Science Foundation, Biodiversa+, Belmont Forum, Agence Nationale de la Recherche, Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, Austrian Science Fund, Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Unitatea Executiva pentru Finantarea Invatamantului Superior, a Cercetarii, Dezvoltarii si Inovarii, Bundesministerium für Bildung, Wissenschaft und Forschung, Agencia Estatal de Investigación, Ministerul Educaţiei şi Cercetării
Awards: G1855990336, SECBIVIT Scenarios for providing multiple ecosystem services, G195474297, G2262748287, G2309174360, Belmont Forum Collaborative Research: Scenarios for providing multiple ecosystem services and biodiversity in viticultural landscapes, G300979063, G3480869486, G425668148, G430777504, G5080475149, G5261184923, G5421974903, G5617772975
OpenAlex ID: W4416439148