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<br />plant species, as found in the 1989 sampling. In 1991, these two plants <br />accounted for 16.20 and 8.20 percent, respectively of the cover, or 39.71 and <br />21.10 percent, respectively, of the total plant cover. The 1989 sampling <br />documented that these two species contributed 53.64 percent of the total plant <br />cover. Of particular interest is the fact that Blue Grama and Sideoats Grama, two <br />native warm season grasses, which in 1989 contributed 4.8 percent and 2.65 <br />percent cover, respectively, amounting to 18.54 percent of the total cover, were <br />found in 1991 to contribute 8.00 and 4.40 percent cover, respectively, which <br />amounted to 30.39 percent of the total plant cover. A total of 12 different plant <br />species were found to contribute to the plant cover on this site in 1991 <br />compared to 10 species encountered during the 1989 monitoring (fable 2, Plant <br />Cover and Composition of 1983 Reclamation Seeding). <br />The total plant cover for the 1987 Reclamation Seeding was found to <br />equal 34.60 percent (Table 3, Plant Cover and Composition of 1987 Reclamation <br />Seeding). This compares with an average cover of 28 percent total plant cover <br />obtained from the 1989 sampling of this site, suggesting that the cover of this <br />site has improved during the past two years as the reclaimed site matures. <br />Grasses contributed 56.65 percent of the total plant cover in 1991 as compared <br />to 34.29 percent in 1989. The increase in grass cover is largely attributable to <br />the decline in annual species which have decreased in percent composition <br />from 63.57 in 1989 to 34.11 percent in 1991. The decline in annuals is an <br />anticipated successional change in any newly reseeded plant community over <br />time. <br />A t-test comparison of the total plant cover values for the 1983 and 1987 <br />reclaimed sites was made with a calculated t-value of 2.306, indicating that at <br />the 0.10 percent level, the means are statistically different. This comparison <br />suggests that the higher plant cover is associated with the old site. <br />6 <br />