Table 1.

General characterisation of the study sites.

Grassland type	Meadows		Pastures		Abandoned
Altitude (m)	970	1850	1950	1870	2000	1970
Aspect	–	E-SE	SE	S-SE	S-SE	S-SE
Inclination (°)	0	19	30	29	29	20
MAT (°C)	6.3	3	3	3	3	3
MAP (mm)	850	1097	1097	1097	1097	1097
Land management	Organic fertilisation three cuts, grazed in autum	Organic fertilisation one cut, grazed in late summer	Grazed from May to Mid-September	Grazed from May to Mid-September	abandoned since 1983 fertilised 1989	abandoned since 1983
Soil typea	Fluvisol	Dystric cambisol	Dystric cambisol	Dystric cambisol	Dystric cambisol	Dystric cambisol
Vegetation type	Pastinaco Arrhenteretum	Trisetetum flavescentis	Seslerio-Caricetum Sempervirentis	Allchemillo Poetum supinae	Vaccinio Callunetum	Seslerio-Caricetum with dwarf shrubs
Dominant species	Dactylis glomerata Poa pratensis Ranunculus acris Taraxacum officinale Trifolium pratense Trifolium repens Trifolium repens	Alchemilla vulgaris Anthoxanthum odoratum Festuca rubra Leontodon hispidus Trifolium repens	Alchemilla vulgaris Carex sempervirens Leontodon hispidus Lotus corniculatus Plantago lanceolata Plantago media Ranunculus montanus Sesleria albicans	Alchemilla vulgaris Anthoxanthum odoratum Carex sempervirens Festuca rubra Leontodon hispidus Lotus corniculatus Sesleria albicans Trifolium repens	Alchemilla vulgaris Avenella flexuosa Homogyne alpina Nardus stricta Vaccinium vitis-idaea	Anthyllis vulneraria Calluna vulgaris Festuca rubra Vaccinium myrtillus Vaccinium vitis-idea
Study years	2002–2005	2002–2004	2002–2004	2006–2008	2002–2003	2003–2008
Above-ground biomass (g/m2)*		2006–2008
spring	311–607	190–313	157–334	198–374	291–376	106–215
summer	449–549	244–440	122–180	129–231	310–390	392–402
autum	266–517	224–261	119–138	91–148	105–240	217–386

^aFAO classification; MA, mean annual (values from two nearby weather stations, representing the situation of the valley bottom and the high mountain sites, respectively); T , temperature; P, precipitation.

^*Ranges refer to the minimum and maximum values in the given observation period.