Question 1 – How can the probability for each management transition be calculated given our information at hand (area of each cover type in each planning zone [area of each strata] and total area in a single planning zone to which an activity can be applied)?
Answer: As you have done using TELSA, you can choose to use Area Limits (called Transition Targets in Path) to define how much area is affected by a particular management activity during each timestep. Transition targets can be set by transition group and are optional for each transition group. If you choose not to use transition targets you can instead set the probability by deciding what proportion of the total area eligible for the activity you would like to happen during each timestep. In this case the absolute amount of area undergoing the transition will vary over time as the eligible area will also likeley vary.
Question 2 – Under the “Advanced” tab, do size distributions limit transitions similarly to assigning activity group limits in TELSA (step 3 above) or is this where we specify the size range for particular management activities as when setting up management systems in TELSA (step 2b above)? How is the information in the “Relative Amount” column used?
Answer: This is where you set the size frequency distributions for both management activities and natural transitions and it only applies when you are running the model spatially. Note that for spatially explicit simulations, transition groups must have a size distribution defined to be simulated.