Temporal patterns of growth and nutrient accumulation of plant species in a Mediterranean mountainous grassland

The temporal patterns of growth and nutrient accumulation into shoots of coexisting species were studied at two neighbouring areas contrasting with respect to long-term water availability, in an upland herbaceous grassland. Plant growth limiting nutrients were nitrogen (N) in the wet area, and N and phosphorus (P) in the dry area. A series of seven harvests allowed assessment of temporal patterns of peaks for dry matter, N, P and potassium (K) accumulation into shoots and their respective rates of accumulation. Additionally, “pairwise species’ proportion similarities” and “pairwise species’ overlaps” were estimated from shoot biomass data. The peaks of N and P accumulation preceded those of K and dry matter accumulation. Similar trends were evident for the respective rates of accumulation. Compared to the dry area, in the wet area there was a prolonged growing period that increased the inter-species temporal variability in the rates of nutrient accumulation. Abundance of species was correlated (negatively) to species N and P concentrations only in the dry area. It is argued that the significant negative correlation between abundance and either N or P concentrations in the dry area was indicative of intensified inter-species competition resulting from declined temporal complementarity.