The New Zealand Plant Conservation Network

Where can I find definitions for the abundance classes commonly used in plant surveys i.e. abundant, frequent, common, local, ocassional etc. as used in Bot Soc journals?
Are these based on percent cover or numbers?

Hi Trina, there is no hard and fast rules. Check out what information you can on NVS (national vegetation scheme). I think there is a manual that gives index scores. I use:
Rare,Infrequently seen during visit and in very low numbers, <1%;
Local, Only seen at few areas within sites visited, but could be quite common within these areas, <5%;
Occasional, Individuals were scattered throughout site or were in widely scattered clumps, 5-20%;
Common, Frequently encountered during visit, but not a dominant part of the flora, 20-60%;
Abundant, A dominant part of the flora, >60%

It's a long time since I was asking that question, Mike's answer is pretty good although I've always found these classes a bit too subjective to bound the terms with numbers. I've also found it useful to expand on Local by adding Common or Abundant (locally common). I also wouldn't limit Local to <5%, rather it implies a few discrete populations which are often tied to geological or topographical features or result from disturbance history, e.g. kanuka on an old burn or pah site.