We exhaustively searched each transect for all individuals of one of the four species, marking plants and measuring species-specific size and fruit measurements that correlate well with dried biomass and with fruit number. We then returned annually to remeasure sizes and fruits, score survival, and estimate reproduction. Transects were of variable length and housed in annual, 2- and 4- year burn watersheds, in both bison-grazed and ungrazed watersheds.

Starting in 2021, to quantify recruitment, we exhaustively searched for unmarked plants in predefined subsets of the transect if any plants in that subset flowered or fruited during that year’s survey or the year prior’s survey.