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eik = total length (m) of edge in landscape involving patch type (class) i; includes landscape boundary and background segments involving patch type i. |
| Description | TE equals the sum of the lengths (m) of all edge segments involving the corresponding patch type. If a landscape border is present, TE includes landscape boundary segments involving the corresponding patch type and representing 'true' edge only (i.e., abutting patches of different classes). If a landscape border is absent, TE includes a user-specified proportion of landscape boundary segments involving the corresponding patch type. Regardless of whether a landscape border is present or not, TE includes a user-specified proportion of internal background edge segments involving the corresponding patch type. |
| Units | Meters |
| Range | TE ≥ 0, without limit. TE = 0 when there is no class edge in the landscape; that is, when the entire landscape and landscape border, if present, consists of the corresponding patch type and the user specifies that none of the landscape boundary and background edge be treated as edge. |
| Comments | Total edge at the class level 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. |
