Land use intensity, rather than plant species richness, affects the leaching risk of multiple nutrients from permanent grasslands

The intensification of land use constitutes one of the main drivers of global change and alters nutrient fluxes on all spatial scales, causing landscape‐level eutrophication and contamination of natural resources. Changes in soil nutrient concentrations are thus indicative for crucial environmental issues associated with intensive land use. We measured concentrations of NO3‐N, NH4‐N, P, K, Mg and Ca by using 1326 ion‐exchange resin bags buried in 20 cm depth beneath the main root zone in 150 temperate grasslands. Nutrient concentrations were related to land use intensity i.e., fertilization, mowing, grazing intensities, and plant diversity by structural equation modelling. Furthermore, we assessed the response of soil nutrients to mechanical sward disturbance and subsequent reseeding, a common practice for grassland renewal.