Brief description:
The data were collected in the years 2021 to 2023 and in 2025 in permanent plots across sites under different management regimes. 
Management regimes can be divided into two categories: long-term management (mowing, mulching, grazing) and 
short-term adjustments of mowing and grazing (mowing date and grazing intensity).

After initially marking the 10 m x 10 m permanent plots in 2021, nine points were designated within each plot at distances of 1, 5, and 9 m from each226
corner. These nine points were treated as corners and data were collected in 50 cm x 50 cm quadrats. 
In each quadrat, the endangered perennial herb Gladiolus imbricatus was counted: 
1-leaved individuals were classified as juvenile, 2-leaved individuals as vegetative, and any shoot with flowers 
or visibly grazed flowers as generative. All vascular plant species found in each quadrat were listed. 
The total number of data points included in the study was 198 per year (22 plots x 9 quadrats).


site: factor of four sites (Pulgoja, Sadama, Allikas, Piirumi)
plot: plots IDs, indicated by number and letter. Unique plotIDs were acquired by merging site and plot.
quadrat: within plots, numbers from 1 to 9
yr: 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2025
Management: factor indicating overall management (pasture or meadow)
Mowing_Date: 0 (no mowing date), 1 (early, around 1st of July), 2 (mid, around 15th of July), 3 (late, around 31st of August)
Hay_removal: 0 (all plots where hay is not removed, including the grazed plots), 1 (all plots where hay is removed)
Mulching: indicated all mulched sites with 1 (only within site Allikas)
Graz_intensity: 0 (all meadows), 1 (low intensity, Piirumi), 2 (medium intensity, Pulgoja), 3 (high intensity, Pulgoja)
Herding_gap_yr: indicated the three plots with herding gap year with 1, all other 0
cov: plant cover (5:100%)
nrsp: number of species in the quadrat (based on presence - absence data)
VEGh: vegetative height of the surrounding vegetation (cm)
GENh: generative height of the surrounding vegetation (cm)
GVEGh: vegetative height of Gladiolus individual (if present, cm)
GVEGh: generative height of flowering Gladiolus individual (if present, cm)
Gflower: count of flowering individuals of Gladiolus imbricatus (generatives)
G2leaf: count of 2-leaved individuals of Gladiolus imbricatus (vegetatives)
G1leaf: count of 1-leaved individuals of Gladiolus imbricatus (juveniles)
Gtot: sum of Gflower, G2leaf, and G1leaf