Figure 1. Time course of the growing season, including management and drought interventions of our study system.

Stars indicate fertilization dates, vertical lines show mowing dates and dashed area represents our drought period. Frequently mown grassland types (M4, solid line) had four cuts per year and therefore four growth periods (first to fourth GP) previous to every cut. Normal mown grassland types (M2, dotted line) had two cuts per year and therefore two growth periods. Aboveground biomass is plotted as mean standing biomass above cutting height for each mowing grassland type.