Fig 1.
Main geographic features and lithological map of the Classical Karst; study areas and weather stations are shown on the map.
Fig 2.
Geological maps of a) the Polazzo area; b) the Koper area.
Table 1.
Weather monitoring stations used for the climatological analysis.
Fig 3.
Daily dry matter (DM) yield of sites in the Polazzo area (Sites 1, 2, 3 and 4) and the Koper area (Sites 5, 6 and 7) during the spring period of each of the three studied years (2012–2014).
Fig 4.
Daily dry matter (DM) yield of sites in the Polazzo area (Sites 1, 2, 3 and 4) and in the Koper area (Sites 5, 6 and 7) during the late summer period of each of the three studied years (2012–2014).
Fig 5.
Granulometric characteristics and USDA texture classification of soil samples collected at the different study sites.
Table 2.
Particle size and geochemical characteristics of soils at the study sites.
Fig 6.
Climate trends of the 1990–2013 average year: a) mean monthly temperatures at Gradisca d’Isonzo (Polazzo area), Portorose, and Sgonico (Koper area); b) mean monthly rainfalls at Gradisca d’Isonzo (Polazzo area), Movrac, Rakitovec, and Kozina (Koper area).
Fig 7.
Climate trends from 2012 to 2014 at the most representative stations: Gradisca d’Isonzo (Polazzo area) and Stations A and B (Koper area). From the top to the bottom: cumulative rainfall (mm), GDD4 and average daily temperature (°C).
Table 3.
Synthesis of climate data from 2012 to 2014: Total annual rainfall and average annual temperatures are compared with 1999–2013 average annual data, and discrepancies (%) are calculated.
Table 4.
Parameter estimates for mixed non-linear models (spring period) describing the effects of the day of year on parameters a, b and c of the curves describing pasture yield (Gaussian model).
Significances are based on likelihood-ratio tests. Interaction between sand classes (SC I, II and III) and growing degree days corresponding to b (GDDb) was included as a fixed effect on parameters b and c.
Table 5.
Spearman’s correlation coefficients between parameter estimates for mixed non-linear models, number of days necessary to reach 90% of total DM yield (ND90), total DM yield (TY), cumulative precipitation until the day when maximum daily DM yield occurs (PCb), growing degree days until the day when maximum daily DM yield occurs (GDDb).
All models and calculated parameters are reported for the two growing periods (spring and late summer). Coefficients are reported for significant correlations only.
Table 6.
Parameters estimated for mixed non-linear models (late summer period) describing the effects of the day of year on parameters a, b and c of the curves describing pasture yield (Gaussian model).
Significances are based on likelihood-ratio tests. Interaction between the sand classes (SC I, II and III) and the number of rainy days from the summer growth break corresponding to curve parameter b (PDsg) was included as a fixed effect on parameter a.