The research activities currently underway at the BACCHUS workshop site meet two objectives: on the one hand, to produce knowledge on the functioning of wine-growing landscapes; on the other hand, to predict risks and identify management levers to optimize ecological processes and preserve biodiversity.
They are divided into 3 major areas described below.
Population and community responses to environmental change
Objectives: The aim here is to understand how different environmental changes (e.g., related to viticultural practices or land use changes) affect the dynamics of multi-species populations and the rules for assembling communities of organisms that support key functions for the functioning of the agroecosystem (e.g., auxiliaries, insect pests, micro-arthropods, micro-organisms).
Examples of the issues we address within this axis:
- What effects does the spatial expansion of organic viticulture have on auxiliary communities and pest and disease pressures?
- What effects does the increase in plant diversity within cultivated plots have on the structure of auxiliary communities?
- How does the distribution of wild hosts in the landscape affect the population dynamics of an invasive vine insect pest, Drosophila suzukii?
Disciplines: community ecology, landscape ecology
Objects under study: wide range of vertebrate and invertebrate species found in wine-growing countries (insects, spiders, birds, bats...)
Methods: systematic, statistical modelling, landscape-scale experimentation in real production situations
Natural regulation of pests and trophic interaction networks in viticultural landscapes
Objectives: The objective here is to produce methods for reconstructing trophic interaction networks in viticultural landscapes in order to understand "who eats who?" and to analyse how different environmental changes modify the structure of these interaction networks. In addition to producing valuable ecological knowledge, the final objective of this research is to identify the procession of auxiliary species that can prove to be a valuable ally for winegrowers to maximize the natural regulations of pests and diseases.
Examples of the issues we address within this axis:
- What methods to rebuild trophic interaction networks?
- What species of beneficials are good allies for pest management?
- What are the links between environmental changes, topology of interaction networks and regulation of pests and diseases?
- How to predict levels of regulation based on community structure / food webs?
Disciplines: community ecology, landscape ecology, trophic interaction ecology
Objects to be studied: vine pests (pathogens, insects and weeds), wide range of auxiliary species (insects, spiders, birds, bats...)
Methods: systematic, statistical modelling, landscape-scale experimentation in real production situations, molecular biology
Ecosystem services and environmental performance of wine-growing systems
Objectives: The objective here is to analyse how multiple ecosystem functions or services (e.g., pollinator conservation, organic matter degradation, pest control) respond to different viticultural practices (e.g., organic agriculture, grassland management, establishment of flower beds). The aim here is therefore to analyse the synergies and antagonisms between these ecosystem functions or services and in different wine production contexts in order to produce knowledge that will inform public policies on spatial planning. In addition, we assess here more broadly the environmental, agronomic and economic performance of wine-growing systems in multiple production contexts in order to predict these impacts according to the evolution of future practices.
Examples of the issues we address within this axis:
- What are the environmental performances of systems used in organic and non-organic viticulture?
- What are the synergies and antagonisms between environmental, agronomic and economic performance in wine systems? Do these interrelationships depend on wine-making practices, or even production contexts?
- Which profiles of wine-making practices maximize multiple performances?
Objects to be studied: range of functions / services (e.g., degradation of organic matter, conservation of pollinators, regulation of pests and diseases, grape production) in wine-growing landscapes, environmental performance
Disciplines: agronomy, functional ecology, landscape ecology, economic sciences
Methods: statistical modelling, landscape-scale experimentation in real production situations
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