Long-term changes in biological soil crust cover and composition

Ecological Processes

Table 2 Significant predictors included in the final models for Bray-Curtis dissimilarity; change (Δ) in total covers of BSC, lichens, and bryophytes; change in species richness; and species gain, loss, and turnover between 1999 and 2010

Delta (Δ) AIC values indicate the difference in AIC between the final model and a model that includes only plot as a random effect. Fixed effects included exclosure, time since fire (relative to 2010 and binned into two classes: burned within the 11 years of the study and burned before the first measurement), the presence or absence of Bromus tectorum in 1999, and the change in cover of B. tectorum. For fixed effects, t- value and P- value are reported. Random effects included the blocking factor of plot and the residual. For random effects, the standard deviation is reported. Blanks indicate factors that were not significant and were not included in the final model.