administered by the Bureau of Land Management and are subject to livestock grazing (Lesica 

 1984). 



Previous studies have indicated that Astragalus scaphoides is locally abundant, but is 

 sensitive to predation by livestock in some areas under certain grazing regimes (Lesica and 

 Elliott 1987, 1989). Inflorescence predation and seed predation by insects are other factors 

 that may be adversely affecting A^ scaphoides fecundity (Lesica and Elliott 1987, 1989). 

 Lowered fecundity is thought to be the cause of local rarity in a number of plant species 

 (Greig-Smith and Sagar 1981, Hester and Mendelssohn 1987, Cabin et al. 1991). The 

 purpose of this demographic monitoring study is to track population trends for Astragalus 

 scaphoides in Montana and gather life history information that will enable interpretation of 

 these trends. 



Methods 



Permanent monitoring transects were established in populations of Astragalus 

 scaphoides at Sheep Corral Gulch in Beaverhead County, Montana on 7 July 1986 with the 

 help of Lou Hagener from the BLM Office in Dillon. Two 50-m transect lines were 

 established by permanently marking the start and end points with iron bars driven into the 

 ground. Transect lines are approximately parallel to the slope, one above the other and 

 separated by 10-20 m (Lesica and Elliott 1987). The exact location of the two transects is 

 shown in Figure 1 . The east end of the transects are marked by a metal fence post that 



