eDNA based biomonitoring at an experimental German vineyard to characterise how management regimes shape ecosystem diversity

There is growing interest in the application of sustainable agricultural methods to minimise the environmental impact of farming, and thus aiding quantification of the actual benefit that such approaches may confer. We used DNA metabarcoding to explore how the diversity of fungi and arthropods were affected by different agricultural management systems (integrated, organic, biodynamic) at the experimental vineyard of Geisenheim (Rheingau, Germany). Data were generated for the bloom and harvest periods in 2017, using environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding analysis of both soil and trap samples. Our data revealed four principal results. (I) Overall richness of airborne arthropods was unaffected by the management systems, likely due to the relatively small scale of the plots compared to arthropod ranges. In contrast however, the richness of soil-living arthropods appeared to be negatively affected by conventional treatments, especially at harvest. (II) Analysis of similarity revealed that the species composition was significantly differentiated by management systems for both arthropods and fungi in both sample types. (III) Taxonomic analysis of fungi revealed differentiated abundance patterns for wine related fungi according to management systems. Overall, our study reiterates the potential of eDNA techniques as a tool for assessing how fungal and arthropod biodiversity is affected by different agricultural management regimes, and we hope such approaches will be adopted in future research aimed at guiding vineyard management decisions.