Abstract: We investigated changing patterns of plant community composition together with population dynamics under grazing pressure in a strict, long-term grazing test. This was achieved with a TWINSPAN (Two-way Indicator Species Analysis) analysis of quadrat data. The main results are that: 1) community composition diverged under varying grazing pressure to form distinct different groups in test fields, while the application of replicate grazing intensity treatments resulted in composition covergence. 2) With increasing grazing pressure perennial species decreased and annual herbs increased in communites.

Key words: Grazing test, TWINSPAN, Community divergence