The Effect of the Proportion of Adjacent Non-Crop Vegetation on Plant and Invertebrate Diversity in the Vineyards of the South Moravian Region
2021
Lucia Ragasová | Tomáš Kopta | Jan Winkler | Hana Šefrová | Robert Pokluda
Increasing vulnerability of crops to pests and diseases, problems with soil erosion, a decline in biodiversity and a number of other negative impacts caused by agricultural intensification and monocultural production have been the subjects of many studies in recent decades. Today, cover cropping has become a promising practice to defuse these negative impacts, and it is emerging in many wine-producing regions, including the Czech Republic. However, the importance of permanent natural and semi-natural habitats in agricultural production should not be neglected. In this study, the effect of adjacent non-crop vegetation on plant and insect diversity was evaluated. The highest plant species richness of inter-row vegetation was found in vineyards with a high proportion (>40%) of non-crop vegetation within a 500-m radius. Regarding the agricultural impact of inter-row vegetation, the high proportion of non-crop vegetation could have been related to the higher presence of opportunistic and non-harmful weeds, compared with the presence of dangerous weed species. The number of insect families present in inter-rows was probably affected more by the vegetation coverage rate than by the proportion of adjacent non-crop vegetation. However, the occurrence of the Hymenoptera species, often representing beneficial organisms, was related to localities with a high proportion of adjacent non-crop vegetation.
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