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~ s <br />the basis of life form for fortis. Clipped samples were oven dried <br />at 105 degrees C for 24 hours. <br />RESULTS <br />Cover. Cover data summaries for the affected area and new <br />reference area are presented in Tables 1 and 2. The major species <br />in both areas are western wheatgrass (Anropyron smithii), smooth <br />brome (Bromus inermis), and Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis). <br />These three species account for 81.8 and 86.6 percent of the cover <br />in the affected and reference areas, respectively. The most common <br />forb species was field bindweed (Convolvulus aruensis). These four <br />species also occurred as dominants in the affected and reference <br />areas during the 1980 studies. Total cover in the affected area was <br />40.7 percent compared with 46.8 percent in the reference area. In <br />1980 this same relationship was true, that is, the reference area <br />had more cover than the affected area. These differences were <br />tested statistically using a t-test (alpha = 0.05). In 1980 the <br />difference was not significant, however in 1982, the difference in <br />mean cover was significant. As a second means of comparison a <br />similarity index between the affected area and reference area was <br />calculated on the basis of relative cover (percent of total cover). <br />The percent similarity was obtained by summing the amount of <br />relative cover shared by each of the species in the affected and <br />reference areas. On this basis, the two areas were 69.2 percent <br />similar. In 1980 the two areas were only 67.3 percent similar based <br />J <br />