I’ve been experimenting with spatial vs. non-spatial modeling in ST-SIM using the LANDFIRE library, and I have noticed that I get very different output (in terms of the mean distribution of state classes) depending on which I choose.
I first noticed this when running a larger spatial model containing a number of different vegetation types- the mean distributions I recorded (after 10 iterations of 1000 timesteps) did not match up with the reference distributions in the LANDFIRE database. I have since experimented by running models with only one vegetation type, while keeping the total area and pixel size constant and starting with equal proportions of each state class, and still I get different distributions between the spatial and non-spatial versions.
Can anyone shed any light on why this happens? I’m guessing it must be related to how disturbance is modeled spatially, but any further information would be greatly appreciated! Thank you.