Abstract
The landscape contagion index measures the degree of clumping of attributes on raster maps. The index is computed from the frequencies by which different pairs of attributes occur as adjacent pixels on a map. Because there are subtle differences in the way the attribute adjacencies may be tabulated, the standard index formula may not always apply, and published index values may not be comparable. This paper derives formulas for the contagion index that apply for different ways of tabulating attribute adjacencies — with and without preserving the order of pixels in pairs, and by using two different ways of determining pixel adjacency. When the order of pixels in pairs is preserved, the standard formula is obtained. When the order is not preserved, a new formula is obtained because the number of possible attribute adjacency states is smaller. Estimated contagion is also smaller when each pixel pair is counted twice (instead of once) because double-counting pixel adjacencies makes the attribute adjacency matrix symmetric across the main diagonal.
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Riitters, K.H., O'Neill, R.V., Wickham, J.D. et al. A note on contagion indices for landscape analysis. Landscape Ecol 11, 197–202 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02071810
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02071810