2. Linear network patterns represent collections of linear landscape elements that intersect to form a network. A familiar example is a map of streams or riparian areas in a watershed, wherein the data consists of nodes and linkages between nodes;the intervening area is considered the matrix and is typically ignored (i.e. treated as ecologically neutral). The goal is to characterize the physical structure (e.g. corridor density, mesh size, network connectivity, circuitry) of the network, and
a variety of metrics have been developed for this purpose.