Raster* Layer, Stack, Brick, SpatRaster (terra), stars, or a list of rasterLayers.

The number of directions in which patches should be connected: 4 (rook's case) or 8 (queen's case).

Logical if cells that only neighbour the landscape boundary should be considered as core

Distance (in cells) a cell has the be away from the patch edge to be considered as core cell

#' @details

NCORE = n_{ij}^{core}

where n_{ij}^{core} is the number of disjunct core areas.

NCORE is a 'Core area metric'. A cell is defined as core if the cell has no neighbour with a different value than itself (rook's case). The metric counts the disjunct core areas, whereby a core area is a 'patch within the patch' containing only core cells. It describes patch area and shape simultaneously (more core area when the patch is large, however, the shape must allow disjunct core areas). Thereby, a compact shape (e.g. a square) will contain less disjunct core areas than a more irregular patch.

Units

None

Range

NCORE >= 0

Behaviour

NCORE = 0 when CORE = 0, i.e. every cell in patch is edge. Increases, without limit, as core area increases and patch shape allows disjunct core areas (i.e. patch shape becomes rather complex).