From the matrix, important population parameters can be calculated. The most important parameter is the finite rate of population increase, which estimates whether a population is increasing, and if so, how rapidly. The values in the sensitivity matrix indicate the importance of the various transition probabilities to the overall population growth rate. For example, a high elasticity value for a given transition indicates that there will be a greater change in the finite rate of population increase if the transition probability changes. In this way, predictions may be made about an ATTO population structure at some temporal endpoint.
Commercial software is available for developing demographic models.
Procedure Build prototype Sufficient monitoring data exist to derive basic demographic information for ATTO, and from these, an initial model, or prototype, would be constructed. Once stages have been identified and defined, observations of every plant for every year at the monitoring sites would be assigned to stages. The number of plants in each stage in each year would be tabulated, and all the possible transition paths identified. However, because the existing data set covers many sites and several years, transition matrices can be generated for each site and time interval. This wealth of data offers many options for model refinement.