Initial conditions at each of the 12 experiments.

Shown in Table are the experiment number (Ex), ika index (Pika), total vegetation percent cover (Veg%), percent bare soil cover (Soil), Erosion index (Ersn). percent litter cover (Ltr%), and fresh biomass (g/m2) of plant species meeting minimum sample size thresholds, for 12 experiments (Cardimine tangutorum = Cata, Carex spp. = Carx, Heteroppapus altaica = Heal, Kobresia spp. = Kobr, Leymus secalinus = Lesa, Oxytropis spp. = Oxyt, Poa spp., Potentilla bifurca = Pobi, Stipa purpurea, = Stpu, Thermopsis lanceolata = Thla, total fresh biomass = Bio), Gouli township, Qinghai Province, China, in September 2009 (i.e., before treatments). For each experiment, top row gives mean, bottom row (italics) gives SD (in all cases, n = 12). Initial conditions at each of the 12 experiments.