Quantitative characteristics and relative coordiantes of Stipa breviflora in desert steppe, China

Ten 50 × 50-cm quadrats were randomly positioned to record species name, height, density, and cover in each plot. Then the standing biomass was clipped at the soil surface, oven-dried at 65°C, and weighed. One 2 × 2-m quadrat was selected in each plot that stocking rates were 0, 0.91, 1.82, 2.71 sheep·hm-2·half y-1 representing no grazing (CK), light grazing (LG), moderate grazing (MG), and heavy grazing (HG), respectively in desert steppe of north China. In this quadrat, a 1 × 1-m quadrat frame with 10 × 10-cm grids was placed 4 times from left to right and from top to bottom of the quadrat sequentially, and a tape measure used to identify the precise spatial locations of S. breviflora in the quadrat. The origin of coordinates was defined as the upper left corner of the quadrat.