BRAINCAKEACFOR Scale
Counting individuals or estimating percentage cover precisely can be slow, so ecologists sometimes use a quick subjective abundance scale. The most common is the ACFOR scale, in which each species in a quadrat or area is given a letter:
A = Abundant
C = Common
F = Frequent
O = Occasional
R = Rare
Some versions add D for Dominant at the top (the DAFOR scale), and many surveys agree a band of percentage cover for each letter, with A the highest and R the lowest.
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More in The Nature of Ecosystems
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All 39 lessons in The Nature of Ecosystems · All Edexcel A-level Biology topics