"The small wildlife of vineyards, a contribution to biodiversity | Caroline Leroux"

The vine and its natural ecosystem are of unsuspected richness with which the winemaker is increasingly called upon to interact more intensively. Gone are the violent and polluting insecticide treatments, making way for the biocontrol of insect populations. Soon to be gone are the herbicides that pollute the soil and rivers, making way for cover crops that store organic matter and retain the soil on sunny days. But nature is not simple, one must learn to work with it, and for that, one must know it in its smallest details. It is this discovery that Caroline invites us to in this remarkable book about the vine, its environment, its beneficial organisms, and its pests. The task is not easy, because it is in the tiny that the greatest battles are fought and the balances between insects, mites, arachnids, fungi, bacteria, viruses are organized, all immersed in the vegetation that provides them with shelter and food. A plant world, of which the vine is a part, which itself depends on the soil on which it feeds and the ever-changing climate that waters and illuminates it. Caroline Le Roux, as a diligent photographer, thus reveals this unsuspected world to us in a remarkably illustrated book that makes it accessible to all and enjoyable to use. Her broad vision of the vine ecosystem highlights the importance and value of everything that enriches the vineyard space with its hedges, walls, wild herbs, grass strips for pollinators and other beneficial organisms, birds and mammals. An original and innovative synthesis on this ecosystem that structures landscapes. A book that should delight both the winemaker, the student, or the nature enthusiast, and is essential for anyone who must cultivate their vines responsibly.