## 3 Results  
A total of 818 grassland parcels encompassing 1655 ha were grouped into four distinct clusters for the Orbroich study site, with parcel counts per cluster ranging from 123 to 340 (15.5% to 43.2% of total grassland area). In Wahnbachtal, five clusters were identified for the 1367 grassland parcels (5083 ha), with parcel counts per cluster ranging from 65 to 598 (4.8% to 43.7% of total grassland area) (Table 1). The separability of clusters was confirmed using TD measurements between cluster pairs, where results of 1900 or larger indicate a high separability between cluster pairs [26]. The Orbroich site had an average TD of 1958 (only one of the six pairwise combinations was <1900); the Wahnbachtal site had an average TD of 1962, and all pairwise comparisons were greater than 1900, except one combination (Table 1). This indicates that the majority of individual clusters were statistically separable (TD > 1900) from one another based on their temporal patterns in VI values. The exceptions to very high separability were in cluster pair 3:4 in Orbroich and cluster pair 4:5 in Wahnbachtal. Even these values (1802 and 1621, respectively) could be considered to have adequate separability based on [27] who used a threshold of 1700 as good separation and 1500 as adequate. In both cases, these cluster pairs represented similar temporal patterns of consistently high NDVI values over the course of the study period but allowed for the separation from the other clusters. An additional analysis of the resulting clusters and separability is provided in the SI. An evaluation using TD was also performed on alternate VIs investigated (see Table S5 in Supplementary Materials). NDVI results for each cluster are composed of 25 annual values based on the average of the grassland parcels within the cluster for that year (Figure S6, left). Large-scale events occurring in one year that may cause a shift in vegetation compared to other years (e.g., drought, early warm weather) were smoothed using a linear regression that was calculated from the average of all clusters for each year (Figures 5 and S6, middle). The difference between the average of all clusters for each year relative to the linear regression equation was used to adjust each cluster's original yearly value. This was performed for each NDVI cluster value for each year to generate the final annual NDVI values for each cluster (Figures 5 and S6, right). \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c c c c} \hline  & & \multicolumn{3}{c}{**Orbroich**} & \multicolumn{5}{c}{**Wahnbachtal**} \\ \hline
**Cluster** & **Count** & **Area (ha)** & \begin{tabular}{c} **\% of** \\ **Grassland Area** \\ \end{tabular} & \begin{tabular}{c} **Separability** \\ **(Pairs) (TD)** \\ \end{tabular} & **Count** & **Area (ha)** & \
\begin{tabular}{c} **\% of** \\ **Grassland Area** \\ \end{tabular} &
\begin{tabular}{c} **Separability** \\ **(Pairs) (TD)** \\ \end{tabular} \\ \hline
1 & 123 & 257 & 15.5 & 1:2-1984 & 67 & 251 & 4.9 & 1:2-2000 \\  & & & 1:4-2000 & 1:4-2000 & & & & 1:4-2000 \\  & & & & & & & 1:5-2000 \\ \hline
2 & 139 & 281 & 17.0 & 2:3-1964 & 109 & 424 & 8.0 & 2:4-1996 \\  & & & & 2:5-2000 & & & & 2:5-2000 \\ \hline
3 & 216 & 401 & 24.2 & 3:4-1802 & 65 & 240 & 4.8 & 3:4-2000 \\ \hline
4 & 340 & 716 & 43.2 & & 528 & 1956 & 38.6 & 4:5-1621 \\ \hline
5 & n/a & n/a & n/a & & 598 & 2212 & 43.7 & \\ \hline Total & 818 & 1655 & \multicolumn{2}{c}{Avg = 1958} & 1367 & 5083 & \multicolumn{2}{c}{Avg = 1962} \\ \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 1: Grassland cluster characteristics and Transform Divergence (TD) separability metrics for each cluster pair (e.g., 1:2) for Orbroich and Wahnbachtal study sites. Figure 5 displays the temporal sequence of annual mean NDVI for each cluster of grassland polygons in Orbroich, where three distinct patterns emerge in grassland biomass (as described by NDVI). Clusters 3 and 4 (orange and purple) remain fairly constant over 25 years although at different NDVI levels.