On the distribution of plant abundance data

Plant abundance data are often analysed using standard statistical procedures without considering their distributional features and the underlying ecological processes. However, plant abundance data, e.g. when measured in biodiversity monitoring programs, are often sampled using a hierarchical sampling procedure, and since plant abundance data in a hierarchical sampling procedure are typically both zero-inflated and over-dispersed, the use of a standard statistical procedure is sub-optimal and not the best possible practice in the modelling of plant abundance data. Two distributions (the zero-inflated generalised binomial distribution and the zero-inflated bounded beta distribution) are suggested as possible distributions for analysing either discrete, continuous, or ordinal hierarchically sampled plant cover data.