Table 2. Nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations (%; mean of four plots ± SE) in leaves, fresh litter and post-decomposition litter at the whole plot level in heath and meadow vegetation across an elevational gradient, with all species collected in each plot weighted according to their relative abundance to provide a single value for each plot.

			Elevation (m a.s.l.)
		Variable	500	600	700	800	900	1000
Heath	Leaf	N (%)	1.4±0.08ab	1.7±0.24b	1.0±0.04a	1.3±0.06ab	1.2±0.04ab	1.5±0.09b
		P (%)	0.16±0.01bc	0.19±0.02c	0.12±0.001ab	0.14±0.01abc	0.11±0.01a	0.13±0.01ab
	Fresh litter	N (%)	0.99±0.02b	0.89±0.04ab	0.84±0.03ab	0.78±0.02a	0.88±0.05ab	0.97±0.004b
		P (%)	0.11±0.004bc	0.12±0.01c	0.12±0.006c	0.14±0.005c	0.08±0.003a	0.09±0.006a
	Litter (post decomposition)	N (%)	1.4±0.05c	1.2±0.02abc	1.2±0.05ab	1.08±0.03a	1.3±0.03bc	1.3±0.04bc
		P (%)	0.12±0.004c	0.12±0.01bc	0.12±0.007c	0.13±0.02c	0.09±0.005ab	0.09±0.007a
Meadow	Leaf	N (%)	2.6±0.04ab	2.9±0.16bc	3.6±0.14d	3.4±0.08cd	3.2±0.20cd	2.3±0.06a
		P (%)	0.26±0.03b	0.32±0.05b	0.35±0.01b	0.29±0.008b	0.24±0.03b	0.16±0.003a
	Fresh litter	N (%)	0.99±0.03a	1.05±0.04a	1.4±0.02b	1.5±0.13b	1.4±0.12b	1.0±0.02a
		P (%)	0.14±0.02bc	0.12±0.009bc	0.16±0.004c	0.16±0.01c	0.10±0.02b	0.05±0.004a
	Litter (post decomposition)	N (%)	2.1±0.1bc	2.1±0.2b	2.5±0.1bc	2.7±0.14c	2.5±0.1bc	1.3±0.04a
		P (%)	0.3±0.06b	0.2±0.02b	0.3±0.005b	0.26±0.01b	0.19±0.03b	0.05±0.005a

ANOVA results shown in Table 1. Within each row, values with the same letters are not significantly different at p = 0.05 (Tukey's h.s.d. test).