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Legumes vary widely in their value for forage production, and can also be invasive within native grasslands. Long-term retention or exclusion of legumes in grasslands requires information on the inherent demography of various species, particularly as legumes may vary widely in their tolerance of defoliation and environmental conditions. In theory, microsite availability for legume recruitment could be manipulated through management; for example, grazing can alter competing vegetation and litter covering the soil, in-turn modifying light intensity, soil moisture and soil temperature. We designed a demography study that tracked seedling emergence, survival and persistence of individual seeds from 6 legume species in 4 microsites under divergent treatments that reflected contrasting management conditions. Microsite conditions were altered by either 1) removing litter, 2) defoliating live biomass at peak growth (to simulate grazing), 3) both removing litter and defoliating, or 4) were left untreated. Legumes tested included 2 tame forage species [white clover (Trifolium repens) and alfalfa (Medicago sativa)], 2 invasive legumes [Cicer milkvetch (Astragalus cicer) and sweet clover (Melilotus officinalis)], and 2 native species [purple prairie clover (Dalea purpurea) and American vetchling (Vicia americana)]. Legumes were planted in lots of 40 seeds within 40 x 40 cm plots under all treatments (4 reps of each) in both native and tame grasslands at each of two locations (Aspen Parkland and Mixedgrass Prairie) during mid-May of 2014. Within each plot, each seed (N= 15,360 total) was glued to a toothpick and inserted to a 1 mm depth in a systematic grid for repeated assessment. The fate of individual seeds was subsequently monitored throughout the growing season until recruitment halted after the first killing frost. Results of this study will provide information on the relative recruitment of different legumes in response to regional environment, competing vegetation identity, disturbance and growing conditions, and thereby highlight opportunities to promote (beneficial forages) or impede (invasive) legumes, depending on management objectives.