Study site
We conducted this experiment from June to August 2006 within a 67.5 m x 50 m old-field meadow (known locally as the “Cemetery Field”) located at the Queen’s University Biological Station, north of Kingston, Ontario, Canada (44° 32’ 23” N, 76° 22’ 3” W). For about 50 years preceding this work, this field was harvested for hay annually (excluding 2005 and 2006) but has not otherwise been disturbed. In July 2005, the field was divided into 486 plots, each 1 m x 1 m, separated by 1 m laneways to minimize the impact of edge effects and disturbance during data collection (Piggott 2007). Of these 486 pre-existing plots, 49 were randomly chosen for data collection in this study.