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G RA P E G R O W I N G tend to have high species richness as well as evenness. denced by temporary outbreaks of insects or diseases in diverse forest ecosystems. As with many things, biodiversity needs to be viewed in the context of the types of communities a region can support due to limitations in physical characteristics such as soil and local weather. Poor soils and cold regions tend to support much less biodiversity than warm regions with rich soils. Clearly, we cannot create a vineyard environment that is as diverse as a tropical rainforest. However, a vineyard with a cover crop has more ecological niches than one that is clean tilled. Because of site limitations, I find it useful to think of biodiversity as a continuum from very low to very high. For any given location, the goal should be to move along the continuum, if possible, to a higher biodiversity while at the same time recognizing that there are limits. Why is biodiversity important? A single vineyard can represent several habitats for animals, plants and other species. Kent Reeves A community can be thought of as a subset of living organisms in an ecosystem. For example, in the vineyard there is a plant community and an animal community. The animal community can be broken down further into the soil microbial community, the insect community, the bird community and so forth. These communities and the species within them interact and change over time, and this is termed community dynamics. Biologically diverse communities are very dynamic—in other words, they are in a constant state of flux. The number of species as well as the number of individuals from each species is constantly changing. In general, a biologically diverse community is more stable than a less biologically diverse one. Even though a biologically diverse community is more dynamic than a less diverse one, they tend to be more stable because the complexity of interactions in a more diverse community results in the lower risk of the system getting out of balance. This phenomenon is one of the reasons biodiversity is an important attribute for a community. It is also why many scientists feel a more biologically diverse agricultural landscape will experience fewer pest problems. However, my experience in forestry taught me that even relatively stable communities can get out of balance periodically, as evi- SUPPORT RESEARCH Measuring biodiversity The ways to measure biodiversity have not changed since Southwood published the 1978 edition of "Ecological Methods." There was a proliferation of methods during the 1960s and 1970s, but I will only present the most commonly mentioned ones in scientific literature. The least sophisticated measure is species richness, & WINE INDUSTRY NEEDS THROUGH THE AMERICAN VINEYARD FOUNDATION Finding Solutions Through Research Drs. Golino, Rowhani and others have developed tools to identify grapevine diseases and have used these tools to find, remove and/or clean up grape variety and clone selections. This plant material is available to growers through the Foundation Plant Services certification program and through grapevine nurseries. For a wealth of useful viticulture and enology research and information, visit AVF.org, iv.ucdavis.edu, enologyaccess.org, or ngwi.org. P.O. Box 5779, Napa, CA., 94581 • T: (707) 252-6911 • Email info@avf.org. Visit our Web site at www.avf.org for information on funding and current research projects Win es & Vi n es A PRI L 20 13 83