(L7) Total Edge

E =      total length (m) of edge in landscape.

Description

TE equals the sum of the lengths (m) of all edge segments in the landscape. If a landscape border is present, TE includes landscape boundary segments representing ‘true’ edge only (i.e., abutting patches of different classes). If a landscape border is absent, TE includes a user-specified proportion of the landscape boundary. Regardless of whether a landscape border is present or not, TE includes a user-specified proportion of internal background edge.[E =intTrue+(intBack*w)+extTrue+(extBack*w)]

Units 

Meters

Range

TE ≥ 0, without limit.

TE = 0 when there is no edge in the landscape; that is, when the entire landscape and landscape border, if present, consists of a single patch and the user specifies that none of the landscape boundary and background edge be treated as edge.

Comments

Total edge is an absolute measure of total edge length of a particular patch type. In applications that involve comparing landscapes of varying size, this index may not be as useful as edge density (see below). However, when comparing landscapes of identical size, total edge and edge density are completely redundant.