Fig 1. Study sites and sampling design.

A. Study site locations and grassland remnants in southern Brazil; pictures with typical landscapes in Pampa and highland grasslands. Study sites: 1- Aceguá, 2- Alegrete, 3- Lavras do Sul, 4- Aratinga Ecological Station, 5- Aparados da Serra National Park, 6- Tainhas State Park. B. Block with three experimental plots, each randomly subjected to one treatment: ‘control’, under continuous cattle access from the larger, enclosing grazing area where the block is located, ‘deferred grazing’, with controlled cattle access, and complete ‘grazing exclusion’; the subsampling design for description of plant communities is indicated within each experimental plot. C. a picture is showing contrasting vegetation structure after one year of exclusion (right side of the fence) compared to the grazed control (left side of the fence). D. Timeline showing sampling events and starting points of treatments.