Monitoring of ultrafine particles in French regional air quality network

Monitoring of ultrafine particles (UFP) in the ambient air is ongoing since 2012 in France. A national working group was created in 2014, including nowadays five French regional air quality monitoring networks. The main instrument selected to monitor UFP is the particle sizer “UFP-3031” (TSI Inc.). It measures the particle number concentration between 20 and 800 nm with six size channels. Two intercomparisons were organized in 2014 and 2015, which evaluated the accuracy of this instrument through a comparison with other techniques (such as Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer, SMPS), and through uncertainty calculations. Recently, several networks have been also equipped with CPC (condensation particle counter) to be able to measure the total UFP number concentration from 7 nm. This work presents the main results of short and long-term measurement of UFP which have been carried out in various environments: urban/traffic sites, near heavy industry zones (Dunkerque and Fos-sur-Mer in northern and southern France, respectively), near harbor area (Nice)… For urban/ traffic environment, the number concentration and size distribution are compared at the national level; it appears that they vary significantly depending on the influence of road traffic around the site. The concentration levels near traffic sites are at least twice than in the urban area, especially for UFP smaller than 50 nm. Additionally, the UFP measurement also makes it possible to improve the identification of specific sources and to understand the atmospheric physicochemical phenomena. The relationship between UFP and industrial emissions, ferries, forest fires was clearly identified in different places in France. During summer, the UFP monitoring also shows the formation of new particles (between 20-30 nm or smaller) in the afternoon, due to photochemical reactions. From 2019, the French national strategy on UFP will start putting a particular emphasis on the impact of UFP on human health

Response of wild bee diversity, abundance, and functional traits to vineyard inter-row management intensity and landscape diversity across Europe

Agricultural intensification is a major driver of wild bee decline. Vineyards may be inhabited by plant and animal species, especially when the inter-row space is vegetated with spontaneous vegetation or cover crops. Wild bees depend on floral resources and suitable nesting sites which may be found in vineyard inter-rows or in viticultural landscapes. Inter-row vegetation is managed by mulching, tillage, and/or herbicide application and results in habitat degradation when applied intensively. Here, we hypothesize that lower vegetation management intensities, higher floral resources, and landscape diversity affect wild bee diversity and abundance dependent on their functional traits. We sampled wild bees semi-quantitatively in 63 vineyards representing different vegetation management intensities across Europe in 2016. A proxy for floral resource availability was based on visual flower cover estimations. Management intensity was assessed by vegetation cover (%) twice a year per vineyard. The Shannon Landscape Diversity Index was used as a proxy for landscape diversity within a 750 m radius around each vineyard center point. Wild bee communities were clustered by country. At the country level, between 20 and 64 wild bee species were identified. Increased floral resource availability and extensive vegetation management both affected wild bee diversity and abundance in vineyards strongly positively. Increased landscape diversity had a small positive effect on wild bee diversity but compensated for the negative effect of low floral resource availability by increasing eusocial bee abundance. We conclude that wild bee diversity and abundance in vineyards is efficiently promoted by increasing floral resources and reducing vegetation management frequency. High landscape diversity further compensates for low floral resources in vineyards and increases pollinating insect abundance in viticulture landscapes.AustrianScienceFund,Grant/AwardNumber:I2044-B25;BundesministeriumfürBildungundForschung;UnitateaExecutivapentruFinantareaInvatamantuluiSuperior,aCercetarii,DezvoltariisiInovarii;MinisteriodeEconomíayCompetitividad;AgenceNationaledelaRecherchePeer Reviewe

Nematodes for soil quality monitoring : results from the RMQS BioDiv programme

International audienceA French programme, "Réseau de mesure de la qualité des sols: biodiversité des organismes" (RMQS BioDiv) was de-veloped in Brittany (27,000 km² in the western part of France) as an initial assessment of soil biodiversity on a regional scale in relation to land use and pedoclimatic parameters. The nematode community assemblages were compared among the land use categories. Crops were characterised by a high abundance of bacterial-feeders, particularly oppor-tunistic bacterial-feeders belonging to Rhabditidae. Meadows presented a higher total abundance of nematodes than did crops (20.6 ind·g −1 dry soil vs. 13.1 ind·g −1 dry soil), and they were mainly linked to the great abundance of plant-parasitic nematodes, particularly Meloidogyne, but with a very high heterogeneity between sampled plots. The nematodes were most abundant in forests (23.7 ind·g −1 dry soil) and presented the most structured community (SI = 82.2 in forests vs. 58.6 and 55.5 in crops and meadows, respectively). Forests had also the higher fungal component (fungal-feeders and facultative plant-feeders belonging to the Tylenchidae) leading to a significant higher part of the fungal decomposition pathway in forests than in crops. The ability of different taxonomic levels of nematode identifica-tion to discriminate among different cropping systems (i.e., continuous cropping system, crop with meadow in the rota-tion, meadow with crop in the rotation and permanent meadow) was also tested. The family level (48 families identified in these samples) was more efficient than the other taxonomic levels (86 taxa, 17 functional guilds and 6 trophic groups): best statistical significant discrimination for time spent in identification. The relation between the nematode ecological indices, the abundance of nematode trophic groups and the crop management practices were studied. The effects of fertilization, ploughing frequency, use of pesticides and management systems on ecological indices, particu-larly on the Maturity Indices, were observed

Tillage intensity or landscape features: What matters most for wild bee diversity in vineyards?

Vineyard inter-rows can provide habitats for a range of plant and animal species especially when covered with vegetation. However, frequent tillage results in the degradation of habitat quality and the provision of biodiversity-based ecosystem services. Wild bees are important pollinators of crops and wild plants and depend on both, floral resources and suitable nesting sites, which are influenced by the landscape configuration. We examined effects of field and landscape parameters on wild bee species’ richness, abundance and functional traits in Austrian vineyards over two years using Generalised Linear Mixed models, Detrended Correspondence Analysis and Random Forests. Alternating tillage was compared with no tillage in two inter-rows per vineyard. Forage availability in these inter-rows was estimated by flower coverage at each sampling date, and landscape features were analysed within a radius of 750 m around the vineyards. Across all vineyards we found 84 wild bee species with a mean abundance (±SD) of 29 (±16.6). Forage availability had the strongest positive effect on wild bee diversity and abundance. In comparison to no tillage, alternating tillage slightly increased wild bee diversity and abundance. Eusocial wild bees were more abundant in untilled inter-rows, whereas solitary wild bees were more closely associated with alternating tilled vineyards. At the landscape scale, the percentage of artificial areas (mostly villages) and distance to semi-natural elements raised wild bee diversity and abundance. The proportion of woodland increased the abundance of wild bees, in particular of eusocial taxa. Solitary wild bee abundance was enhanced by the number of solitary trees. Pollination provided by wild bees in viticultural areas can be enhanced by maintaining a diversity of different soil management strategies to improve forage availability in vineyards. Furthermore, semi-natural elements such as fallows or solitary trees providing floral resources and nesting habitat should be preserved within viticultural landscapes.This research is part of the BiodivERsA project VineDivers (www.vinedivers.eu) and was funded through the BiodivERsA/FACCE JPI (2013-2014 joint call) for research proposals, with the national funders: Austrian Science Fund (grant number I 2044-B25FWF), French National Research Agency (ANR), Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO), Romanian Executive Agency for Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation Funding (UEFISCDI) and Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF/Germany). The open access funding was provided by the Austrian Science Fund: I 2044-B25. We are grateful to Johann Grassl and to the winegrowers in the Neusiedlersee-Hügelland and Carnuntum region for allowing us to study their vineyards.Peer Reviewe

BIODIVERSITY AND ECOSYSTEM SERVICE IN TRANSYLVANIA - NEW APPROACH TO A SUSTAINABLE VINEYARDS

International audienceIn the last decades intensification and mechanisation of vineyard management caused a separation of production and conservation areas in the vineyards. However, there is limited field evaluation of its impact on commercial vineyard level. Our study evaluates the (i) effects of two soil management (permanent and alternative vegetation cover and bare soil) in vineyard inter-rows and (ii) effects of surrounding landscape complexity on biota richness (bees, earthworms, plants) and production parameters in sixteen commercial vineyards in Central Romania. Biota richness (bees, earthworms, plants) and abundance are influenced by vineyard management intensity. Biodiversity is higher in low intensity vineyards (alternative or permanent cover crop) than in high intensity (bare soil). In this study, management practices seem to have more influence on vineyard inter-row biodiversity and on quality parameters of grapes than surrounding landscape

Reducing tillage in cultivated fields increases earthworm functional diversity

International audienceAlternative cropping systems such as conservation agriculture have been implemented to limit the harmful effects of intensive conventional cropping systems. Conservation agriculture is known to modify the structural diversity of earthworm communities, but no data have been reported so far on their functional diversity. Structural and functional indices of community were used to study the effects of different soil tillage intensity on earthworm diversity in arable soils. Field data were collected in four agricultural trials across France representing different soiland climatic conditions. Three types of soil tillage were assessed: plowing, superficial tillage and direct seeding. Earthworm abundance, species richness and ecomorphological group abundance were investigated. Seven functional traits, i.e. body length, body mass/length ratio, epithelium type, cocoon diameter, typhlosolis type, carbon preferences and vertical distribution, were selected according to their hypothesized link with mechanisms of tillage impact. Functional diversity indices were then computed. Soil tillage intensity decreased functional diversity and modified the functional trait profile within the earthworm community whereas neither structural diversity (species number) nor abundance changed with tillage intensity. Differences between plowing and direct seeding were significant in each trial, and superficial tillage often showed intermediate trait values. Regarding ecomorpho-logical groups, anecic abundance was positively influenced by a decrease in soil tillage, contrary to epigeic and endogeic earthworms that showed no response. Tillage acts as an environmental filter, and decreasing its intensity caused a lesser convergence of traits and thus higher functional trait diversity. We demonstrated that a trait-based approach better permitted comparisons of community responses across sites than species number or abundance

Biodiversity and ecosystem service in Transylvania - New approach to sustainable vineyards

International audienceIn the last decades intensification and mechanisation of vineyard management caused a separation of production and conservation areas in the vineyards. However, there is limited field evaluation of its impact on commercial vineyard level. Our study evaluates the (i) effects of two soil management (permanent and alternative vegetation cover and bare soil) in vineyard inter-rows and (ii) effects of surrounding landscape complexity on biota richness (bees, earthworms, plants) and production parameters in sixteen commercial vineyards in Central Romania. Biota richness (bees, earthworms, plants) and abundance are influenced by vineyard management intensity. Biodiversity is higher in low intensity vineyards (alternative or permanent cover crop) than in high intensity (bare soil). In this study, management practices seem to have more influence on vineyard inter-row biodiversity and on quality parameters of grapes than surrounding landscape

Biodiversity and ecosystem service in Transylvania - New approach to sustainable vineyards

International audienceIn the last decades intensification and mechanisation of vineyard management caused a separation of production and conservation areas in the vineyards. However, there is limited field evaluation of its impact on commercial vineyard level. Our study evaluates the (i) effects of two soil management (permanent and alternative vegetation cover and bare soil) in vineyard inter-rows and (ii) effects of surrounding landscape complexity on biota richness (bees, earthworms, plants) and production parameters in sixteen commercial vineyards in Central Romania. Biota richness (bees, earthworms, plants) and abundance are influenced by vineyard management intensity. Biodiversity is higher in low intensity vineyards (alternative or permanent cover crop) than in high intensity (bare soil). In this study, management practices seem to have more influence on vineyard inter-row biodiversity and on quality parameters of grapes than surrounding landscape