Choyero identified plants and animals.

Between 2014 and 2016 in a first wave of research among Choyero household, two authors (SJM & JJG) asked ranchers to free-list what plants and animals they associated with Giganta spring ecosystems. This free-list task initially identified a set of locally salient plants (161) and animals (124) – mostly associated with the wilderness or campo. To this set of 161 freelisted plants, we added fifteen additional plants pertaining to house gardens (jardin) and agricultural fields (huerta). Following the free-list task, the researchers linked emic plant and animal concepts to nomenclature of the Linnean classification system (i.e. Family genus and species) and to locally appropriate nomenclature used for species identification. This taxonomic identification work was accomplished with the assistance of a focus group of ranchers, botanical and faunal field guides and later botanical experts from the Red Butte Garden at the University of Utah.