Experimental design
To assess how shade, water availability and plant-plant interactions influence annual plant fitness, we manipulated water availability and interaction neighbourhoods in four open (0-12% canopy closure) and four shaded (58-100% canopy closure) blocks across the reserve. We measured demographic responses of nine common annual plant species that represent a variety of annual plant strategies (Table 1).
Table 1. The nine focal species by family and their origin (native or exotic).