**4. Conclusions**

*Plant Communities and Their Environment*

**184**

**Figure 5.**

**Figure 4.**

*terroir zoning.*

the most present in this EHU.

*Spatial distribution of the NDVI in the years 2014 (satellite Pleiades) and 2013 (satellite SPOT 5) and proposed* 

*Characteristic profiles of the EHUs: 4A (sector D1), 4B (sector D2), and 4C (sector D3). NDVI classification carried out independently in each EHU and location of the pits (4D). Definitive* terroir *zoning redefined with* 

*the NDVI, with a single classification for the three EHUs (4E).*

probable alcoholic degree, the highest acidity, and the lowest content of total polyphenols and anthocyanins (**Table 1**). The very high and high classes of the NDVI are

D3: hillside with southwest orientation, whose main soil is fine loamy, mixed, mesic, and Typic Xerothent, with an effective depth of 145 cm. It could be consid-

**Figure 5** shows the graphic representation of the NDVI from other years (2014 and 2013), verifying the temporal stability of the zoning carried out in vineyard

ered as the EHU of intermediate characteristics between the other two.

It has been verified that there is similarity in the distribution of the NDVI and the FIA, provided that both cartographies are made at the same scale. In vineyards grown on man-modified soils, it seems that the use of vegetation indexes, such as the NDVI, does not give the expected results, being able to conclude that there is a link between the NDVI and the characteristics of the environment, in particular with those related to the soil and landscape.

In the within-vineyard *terroir* zoning, the EHU associated to a material deposition area and characterized by the main series fine-loamy, mixed, mesic, and Typic Xerofluvent is related to the very high class of the NDVI and at the same time with vigorous properties of the vineyard: high yield, high weight of pruning wood, low probable alcohol grade, high acidity, and low levels of IPT and anthocyanin content. These results have been obtained in comparison with two EHUs associated with hillside and whose main soil series are mesic, Calcic Haploxeralf and fine-loamy, mixed, mesic Typic Xerorthent.

Regarding the NDVI, the interannual stability in the pattern has been demonstrated regardless of the resolution of the image, at least from 0.5 to 2.5 m/ pixel.

Epipedon characteristics related to agronomic results have been found. Thus, it was found that there are positive correlations between the FL (and associated variables such as silt content, total limestone, and pH) and content in malic acid and between H33c (and the associated variables such as the content in coarse elements, the active limestone, and the moisture content of the wilting point) and the pH of the grape, as well as the negative correlation between the H33c and malic acid. In the future, it will be interesting to find a methodology that allows to integrate the analytical results, not only of the superficial horizon but also of all the horizons of the soil profile and the vegeto-productive results and grape composition, to be able to relate them to each other as exhaustively as possible.

The importance of the size of the vineyards to find PV applications is noteworthy. In the case of DOCa Rioja, 87% [36] of the vineyards are small (between 0.1 and 2 hectares), making the sectorization of the vineyards technically and economically unviable in order to carry out localized treatments. In any case, it is advisable to project plantations that, as far as possible, facilitate individualized management, particularly in the harvest.

*Plant Communities and Their Environment*
