Total (class) area (Area and edge metric)
Arguments
- landscape
A categorical raster object: SpatRaster; Raster* Layer, Stack, Brick; stars or a list of SpatRasters.
- directions
The number of directions in which patches should be connected: 4 (rook's case) or 8 (queen's case).
Details
$$CA = sum(AREA[patch_{ij}])$$ where \(AREA[patch_{ij}]\) is the area of each patch in hectares.
CA is an 'Area and edge metric' and a measure of composition. The total (class) area sums the area of all patches belonging to class i. It shows if the landscape is e.g. dominated by one class or if all classes are equally present. CA is an absolute measure, making comparisons among landscapes with different total areas difficult.
References
McGarigal K., SA Cushman, and E Ene. 2023. FRAGSTATS v4: Spatial Pattern Analysis Program for Categorical Maps. Computer software program produced by the authors; available at the following web site: https://www.fragstats.org