Table 2. Results of ANCOVAs testing effects of year, deer exclosure and the previous year’s seed bank structure on measures of aboveground plant community structure.

Aboveground Response	Year	Deer Exclusion	Seed Bank Covariate	Deer*Covariate
Species Richness	t = 0.199; P = 0.843	t = 0.224; P = 0.825	t = 2.595; P = 0.014	t = −0.325; P = 0.747
Diversity	t = −2.332; P = 0.026	t = −1.155; P = 0.257	t = −1.261; P = 0.217	t = 1.191; P = 0.243
Abundance	t = −0.905; P = 0.373	t = −1.576; P = 0.125	t = −1.367; P = 0.181	t = 1.692; P = 0.101
Annuals/Biennials	t = −2.308; P = 0.028	t = 0.953; P = 0.348	t = 3.082; P = 0.004	t = −0.647; P = 0.522
Relative Native Species Richness	t = 4.925; P<0.001	t = 0.316; P = 0.754	t = 0.321; P = 0.750	t = −0.091; P = 0.928
Relative Native Abundance	t = 2.715; P = 0.011	t = 1.111; P = 0.275	t = 1.883; P = 0.069	t = −1.071; P = 0.293

Bold values denote statistical significance at P≤0.05.