Project title: Scenarios for providing multiple ecosystem services and biodiversity in viticultural landscapes

Project type: ERANET

Authority: UEFISCDI

Contractor: University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca

Project manager:  Conf. dr. Mignon Șandor  

Website SECBIVIT: www.secbivit.boku.ac.at/ 

Abstract

      In agroecosystems, multiple ecosystem services such as soil fertility, pest regulation, crop production and biodiversity conservation need to be balanced to achieve both sustainable development goals and Aichi biodiversity targets. The main global change drivers of biodiversity and ecosystem services in viticultural landscapes are climate change, the invasion of alien (pest) species, land management changes, wine markets and policies. These drivers influence land use decisions at the local and regional level which affect multiple dimensions of biodiversity and the delivery of ecosystem services (ES).
SECBIVIT will develop and test model frameworks which integrate different scenarios of land use across spatial scales for future management in viticultural regions from Spain, to France, Germany, Austria and Romania. First, we will organise workshops in each project region to develop stakeholder-driven scenarios which will be used as input for the agent-based models. Second, we will utilize existing knowledge from different European countries to build a predictive model for ES in viticulture. Third, the model will be validated using field measurements of above- and below-ground biodiversity plus the multiple ecosystem services that it provides.
This will be done along gradients of landscape complexity and management options in the five European case-study regions.

Objectives

Assessment of biodiversity in vineyards having as aim the development of spatially explicit and locally adapted models based on existing data and stakeholder-driven scenarios integrating winegrowers as agents who take land use decisions in coupled human-natural systems as well as the landscape diversity. This will allow us to implement a software decision-support tool for stakeholders in viticulture that provides information on how to manage their crop to enhance biodiversity and multiple ecosystem services in a given context.