Data from: Effects of pesticides on soil bacterial, fungal and protist communities, soil functions and crop quality in vineyards

Pesticides can have unintentional effects on non-target organisms and change biotic communities. Such changes might be particularly important in soil microbial communities which drive many ecosystem functions and may affect crop quality. Here, we investigated, in a 3-year study, how vegetation control (by herbicide application) and soil copper content (from long-term copper-based fungicide application), affect biodiversity and the community structure of soil bacteria, fungi and protists and associated soil functions (respiration, decomposition) in Swiss vineyards. Furthermore, we determined the effects of these two management practices on grape quality as the most direct ecosystem service to farmers. Across all study years, the community composition of microorganisms was affected by herbicide application, however, a significant loss of operational taxonomic units (OTUs) was only observed in fungi and protists. Soil copper content reduced OTU richness of bacteria and protists in some years but had no significant effect on fungal richness. Copper changed the community composition in all three groups of soil microorganisms. While we found no effect of copper on soil functions, herbicide application reduced microbial respiration and biomass by about 39% and 45% respectively. However, decomposition rates remained virtually unchanged by any pesticide. Yeast assimilable nitrogen (YAN) levels in grape must were below the critical threshold of 140 mg/L in 40% of the vineyards without herbicide application and the variety Chasselas , whereas in vineyards with herbicide application it was only 20%. Synthesis and applications: Application of pesticides led to changes in richness and composition of soil microbial communities and directly reduced some soil functions (microbial biomass and respiration), but not all (decomposition). Some grape quality parameters can be indirectly enhanced by pesticide application, highlighting the trade-off between the interests of nature conservation and the interests of the farmer. Balancing these two diverging interests requires the establishment of alternative vineyard management allowing reduced pesticide application.

农药可对非靶标生物产生非预期影响，并改变生物群落。这类变化在驱动诸多生态系统功能、并可能影响作物品质的土壤微生物群落中尤为重要。本研究通过为期3年的试验，调查了植被防控（除草剂施用）与长期铜基杀菌剂施用带来的土壤铜含量，如何影响瑞士葡萄园中的土壤细菌、真菌与原生生物的生物多样性及群落结构，以及相关土壤功能（呼吸作用、有机质分解作用）。此外，本研究还探究了这两种管理措施对葡萄品质的影响——这是对农民而言最直接的生态系统服务。
在所有研究年份中，除草剂施用均会影响微生物群落组成，但仅在真菌与原生生物中观测到操作分类单元（operational taxonomic units, OTUs）的显著减少。土壤铜含量在部分年份降低了细菌与原生生物的OTU丰富度，但对真菌丰富度无显著影响。铜处理可改变三类土壤微生物的群落组成。尽管未发现铜处理对土壤功能存在影响，但除草剂施用可使微生物呼吸作用与生物量分别降低约39%与45%。不过，任何农药处理均未对有机质分解速率产生显著影响。
在未施用除草剂且种植夏斯拉（Chasselas）葡萄品种的园块中，有40%的葡萄园葡萄汁内的酵母可同化氮（yeast assimilable nitrogen, YAN）水平低于140 mg/L的临界阈值；而在施用除草剂的葡萄园中，这一比例仅为20%。
综合与应用：农药施用会改变土壤微生物群落的丰富度与组成，直接降低部分土壤功能（微生物生物量与呼吸作用），但并未影响全部土壤功能（如有机质分解）。部分葡萄品质参数可通过农药施用得到间接提升，这凸显了生物多样性保护与农户种植利益之间的权衡关系。平衡这两种相悖的利益需求，需要建立可减少农药施用的替代型葡萄园管理方案。