DOI: 10.5061/dryad.j43p6
title: Data from: High-nature-value grasslands have the capacity to cope with nutrient impoverishment induced by mowing and livestock grazing

description: 1. Management of high-nature-value (HNV) grasslands follows
 agri-environmental schemes across large areas of Europe. Long-term
 agreements and restrictions of fertilizers cause soil nutrient
 impoverishment, but remarkably this quite often does not reduce biomass
 production. Therefore, we tested how species-rich vegetation copes with
 nutrient impoverishment under the most frequently used treatments, that is
 summer mowing and livestock grazing. 2. During 2011–2012 we studied,
 simultaneously, plant species composition, soil and biomass chemical
 properties in two equally designed experiments where mowing, grazing or
 leaving fallow have been applied since 2004. We asked whether soil-based
 (Corg : Ntot, plant-available P and K) and plant-based measures (N : P, N
 : K, K : P ratios and N-, P-, K-nutrition indices) indicate the same
 pattern of nutrient limitation as the observed productivity gradient. 3.
 Seven years of management application resulted in the lowest
 plant-available P under grazing and the lowest plant-available K under
 mowing, but neither grazed nor mown plots produced less biomass than
 fallow ones. Grazing supported dominance of grasses while mowing that of
 non-leguminous forbs. 4. Projection of nutrition indices to a common
 framework with nutrient ratios suggests that critical thresholds for
 diagnosis of nutrient limitation are a function of N deficiency. At
 biomass production of 2 t ha−1 a N-nutrition index of 50 yielded threshold
 N : P = 14·0; hence, all our treatments with N : P of 9·9–12·5 should be N
 limited. 5. Inspecting the productivity gradient separately for each
 management, we found only soil Corg : Ntot negatively related to biomass
 production in mown plots indicating N limitation. However in grazed plots,
 positive association of biomass production with plant-available P and
 negative with biomass N : P and N : K suggested PK co-limitation. 6.
 Synthesis and applications. Mowing and grazing induced different patterns
 of soil nutrient impoverishment and nutrient limitation, but they did not
 reduce biomass production of high-nature-value grasslands. Non-leguminous
 forbs prevailing under mowing precluded shortage of P, while grasses
 dominating under grazing efficiently captured N. We recommend designing
 agri-environmental measures that will encourage alternating mowing and
 grazing. This should promote coexistence of multiple forbs and grasses,
 balance nutrient limitation and ensure stable biomass production under
 future low-input scenarios.
description: Mladkova2015_JAPPL_dataData file contains 4 sheets with following information: (1) soil and plant biomass properties from field sampling of the long-term management experiments in 2011-2012, (2) soil properties from additional sampling in November 2012, (3-4) plant species composition of permanent plots monitored regularly since the start of the management experiments (2004-2009, 2013) at Brachypodium and Festuca sites, respectively. Plant species abbreviations consist of first three letters from the genus name and first three letters from the species name. List of abbreviations and respective scientific names can be found in Read Me file. Plant names follow nomenclature: Kubát, K., Hrouda, L., Chrtek, J., Kaplan, Z., Kirschner, J. & Štěpánek, J. (2002) Key to the Flora of the Czech Republic. Academia, Praha, Czech Republic.