The marking technique is the approach of choice whenever repetitive visits to the meadow
investigated are possible and whenever the different structures to be marked are accessible for
marking purposes with tolerable disturbance. This is, however, often not the case for species
with deep-growing rhizomes, where reconstructive techniques are useful. The reconstruction
approach is of limited use for species with short life spans or annuals, for which structures
older than one year are scarce or non-existent. Application of reconstruction techniques to
these populations would likely render biased estimates.