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Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
Spontaneous flora of vineyards in the Mediterranean region has lately been receiving much attention, due to the
increasing awareness of their benefits for agroecosystems, soils, and for provisioning multiple Ecosystem Services (ES).
However, initiatives for valuing flora often clash with the potential losses by interference with vines, but in an extent
difficult to evaluate. We developed the index VIFLORES – VIneyard FLORa Value for Ecosystem Services -, aiming to
assess the value of spontaneous plant species for ES provision in vineyards. VIFLORES ranges from 0 (lowest value)
to 1 (maximum), calculated by the average of the contribution of the co-occurring species to the three ES categories:
Provisioning (e.g. medicinal use), Regulation and Maintenance (e.g. pollination), and Cultural Services (e.g. landscape
aesthetics). To map and compare the floristic values of vineyards, we propose an integration of species abundance,
phenology and VIFLORES. To test this approach, we carried out 192 floristic surveys in Spring 2021 for three vineyards
located in the Alentejo winegrowing region (South of Portugal) with different production management systems, namely
Conventional (CPS), Integrated in Optidose (IPS), and Organic (OPS). IPS and OPS inter rows were significantly more
diverse than CPS and had a high VIFLORES value. OPS vineyard rows had significantly higher diversity and indicator
values than CPS and IPS, which is likely related to soil management. While VIFLORES approach guides to fostering
of multifunctional vineyards, it is still limited in incorporating the seasonality of weedy flora and needs validated
thresholds for better decisions on soil management.
Description
Keywords
weeds biodiversity production management systems sustainability vineyard soil management
Pedagogical Context
Citation
Aguiar FC, Pires BR and Lopes CM (2024). Evaluation of spontaneous and weedy flora of vineyards for ecosystem services provision using the indicator VIFLORES. Revista de Ciências Agrárias, 47(1): 307-311
Publisher
Sociedade de Ciências Agrárias de Portugal