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• species density found in the reference areas, there was a suggestion that plant succession was <br />proceeding in these reclaimed area plant communities and that equality with native areas might <br />eventually develop. In 1995, extraordinarily favorable growing conditions accompanied a rise <br />in native species density in reference areas but a decline in reclaimed area species density, <br />probably due to the intense competitive effects of very vigorous growth of introduced grasses <br />and alfalfa in the reclaimed areas. In reference areas, the dominant species do not respond so , <br />dramatically to improvements in growing conditions as do the introduced forage species in <br />reclaimed areas. These introduced species have been bred for hundreds of years in the service <br />of agriculture to respond with abundant herbaceous production if given sufficient moisture. In <br />1996, the native species density of the reclaimed areas sampled rose again to approach the peak <br />observed in 1994 sampling. <br />The highest native species density observed in 1996 in the reclaimed areas was 19.7 species <br />per 100 m2 in the 1992 Reclaimed Areas. In the Wadge Pasture, over the period that species <br />density has been measured (1988 to 1996), species density of native plants has risen from <br />approximately 10 species per 100 m2 to the 16 species per 100 m2 observed in 1993 and <br />15.7 species per 100 m2 observed in 1994. In 1995, native species density dropped to 14.1 <br />• species/ 100 m2 possibly due to the negative competitive effects of extremely vigorous <br />dominant, mostly introduced species, that could have excluded them or at the least obscured <br />them to the point that they were overlooked during sample tally. In 1996, depressed species <br />density values continued with 13.8 native species per 100 m2, down somewhat further than the <br />1995 values <br />1996 sampling revealed 15.3 native species/ 100 m2 ih the 1989 reclamation which when <br />last measured (1993), species density of native plants was 18.6 native species per 100 m2. <br />1992 reclamation, with 19.7 native species/ 100 m2 in 1996 was last measured in 1994, <br />when species density of native plants was 19.9 species per 100 m2. It would appear that the <br />newer reclamation areas are showing better capacity to retain the elevated species density <br />values resulting from more diverse seed mixes and live topsoiling. <br />After a slight decline in total species density in general in 1989, species density rose in 1990 <br />and continued upward in 1991, then stabilized in 1992, rose again in 1993 and again stabilized <br />at this higher level through 1995 and 1996. In Wadge Pasture, for example, total species <br />u <br />~7 <br />