The main content of this page starts here
| Ecological relevance | The insect biomass in a habitat provides insights into ecosystem health. High biomass indicates good habitat quality. |
| Description | The indicator "Insect diversity in viticulture - insect biomass" serves to record insect biomass in viticulture and thus to monitor the general abundance of insects in vineyards. The extent to which negative developments such as insect decline are occurring in viticulture is unknown and will be recorded. The Palatinate (lowland viticulture) and Moselle (steep-slope viticulture) regions provide structural coverage for large areas of German viticulture. |
| Data basis | Using Malaise traps, biomass is measured over many years in representative, unchanging vineyards. These vineyards are located in the Palatinate (lowland viticulture) and along the Moselle (steep slope viticulture) and structurally cover large areas of German viticulture. |
| Calculation | The annual biomass per site is calculated and changes are compared with the moving average of previous years. |
| Spatial reporting level | The indicator value is reported for the institute's own areas of the Julius Kühn Institute for Plant Protection in Fruit and Wine Growing in the Southern Palatinate and the Rural Service Centre on the Moselle. |
| Report intervall | Once monitoring begins, the indicator will be reported annualy. |
| Interpretation | The increase or decrease in biomass reveals trends in the state of insect diversity. Developments in this indicator can reveal the effects of measures already implemented, as well as the need for further conservation measures. |
| Limitations | Biomass analysis alone does not allow conclusions about population trends of individual species. Metabarcoding of the collected samples provides supplementary information in this regard. |
