Create species presence/absence raster

presabRas.R

# Create species presence/absence raster
# mask.raster = raster of focal area
# species.data = presence points of focal species
# raster.label = label for raster (e.g. species name)
# 
# example
# pa.ras <- presabRa(mask.raster = raster1, species.data = hares, raster.label = "Lepus sp.")
# See https://amywhiteheadresearch.wordpress.com/2016/01/25/extracting-raster-data-using-a-shapefile/#more-918 for more info]
presabRas <- function (mask.raster,species.data,raster.label="") {
require(raster)
 
# set the background cells in the raster to 0
mask.raster[!is.na(mask.raster)] <- 0
 
#set the cells that contain points to 1
speciesRaster <- rasterize(species.data,mask.raster,field=1)
speciesRaster <- merge(speciesRaster,mask.raster)
 
#label the raster
names(speciesRaster) <- raster.label
return(speciesRaster)
}