Conflicts and Collisions With an Endangered Carnivore: Landscape Drivers and Spatial Risk Pattern

“…mortality risk for carnivores, with consequences for livelihoods, public attitudes, and long-term population persistence (Inskip and Zimmermann 2009; Loveridge et al. 2010; Oli et al. 1994; Puri et al. 2022; Ripple et al. 2014; Thirgood et al. 2005; Treves and Karanth 2003; Woodroffe et al. 2005).”

“Roads can also impede movement, fragment populations, and disrupt demographic and genetic connectivity (Dixon et al. 2006; Jackson and Fahrig 2011), effectively transforming otherwise suitable habitats into population sinks (Woodroffe and Ginsberg 1998).”

“…mortality risk for carnivores, with consequences for livelihoods, public attitudes, and long-term population persistence (Inskip and Zimmermann 2009; Loveridge et al. 2010; Oli et al. 1994; Puri et al. 2022; Ripple et al. 2014; Thirgood et al. 2005; Treves and Karanth 2003; Woodroffe et al. 2005).”

“Closure within primary sampling seasons implies that the underlying state, whether a sampling unit is susceptible to conflicts or collisions, is assumed constant within a primary sampling season, while allowing changes between primary seasons (MacKenzie et al. 2017; Pollock 1982).”

“Patch aggregation (index) Patch cohesion index describing the connectedness of favorable habitat patches within each sampling unit, calculated using the landscapemetrics R package (Hesselbarth et al. 2019).”

“…safety, and increased mortality risk for carnivores, with consequences for livelihoods, public attitudes, and long-term population persistence (Inskip and Zimmermann 2009; Loveridge et al. 2010; Oli et al. 1994; Puri et al. 2022; Ripple et al. 2014; Thirgood et al. 2005; Treves and Karanth…”

“As human development expands and natural habitats become increasingly fragmented, this spatial overlap intensifies, leading to a range of conflicts between humans and wildlife (Loveridge et al. 2010; Wittemyer et al. 2008; Woodroffe et al. 2005).”

“Least-cost distance to protected area a (km) Least-cost distance from each grid cell to the nearest protected area (> 1 km 2 ), calculated using the gdistance R package (van Etten 2017).”

“…increased to approximately 200 individuals following conservation measures that included habitat protection, genetic rescue, and mitigation of road mortality (Foster and Humphrey 1995; Hostetler et al. 2010; Johnson et al. 2010; Lotz et al. 1997; Onorato et al. 2010, 2024; van de Kerk et al. 2019).”

“Our results provide limited support for population size as a primary driver of conflict, consistent with previous findings (Graham et al. 2005) and with evidence that management strategies aimed at reducing predator abundance often fail to reduce conflicts (Lennox et al. 2018; Treves and Karanth…”

“…Frakes et al. 2015), maintaining habitat connectivity while minimizing conflict and anthropogenic mortality will be critical for promoting dispersal, enhancing genetic diversity, and supporting long-term population persistence (Beier 1995; Onorato et al. 2010, 2024; Schwab and Zandbergen 2011).”

“…configuration and resistance to panther movement along high-risk road segments to assist with strategically constructing additional wildlife crossings with associated fencing, which are widely used and effective at reducing road-related mammal mortality (Lotz et al. 1997; Rytwinski et al. 2016).”

“…mortality risk for carnivores, with consequences for livelihoods, public attitudes, and long-term population persistence (Inskip and Zimmermann 2009; Loveridge et al. 2010; Oli et al. 1994; Puri et al. 2022; Ripple et al. 2014; Thirgood et al. 2005; Treves and Karanth 2003; Woodroffe et al. 2005).”

“…mortality risk for carnivores, with consequences for livelihoods, public attitudes, and long-term population persistence (Inskip and Zimmermann 2009; Loveridge et al. 2010; Oli et al. 1994; Puri et al. 2022; Ripple et al. 2014; Thirgood et al. 2005; Treves and Karanth 2003; Woodroffe et al. 2005).”

“Roads can also impede movement, fragment populations, and disrupt demographic and genetic connectivity (Dixon et al. 2006; Jackson and Fahrig 2011), effectively transforming otherwise suitable habitats into population sinks (Woodroffe and Ginsberg 1998).”

“…land uses include pastures, agricultural lands, residential and industrial areas, transportation infrastructure, and natural habitats such as hardwood hammocks, cypress forests, pine flatwoods, freshwater marshes, prairies, and grasslands (Kautz et al. 2006; Land et al. 2008; Onorato et al. 2011).”

“However, these processes are often examined separately and are rarely studied within a unified spatiotemporal framework that accounts for imperfect detection and changing population dynamics (but see Goswami et al. 2015; Moore et al. 2018; Puri et al. 2022; Santos et al. 2022).”

“…results provide limited support for population size as a primary driver of conflict, consistent with previous findings (Graham et al. 2005) and with evidence that management strategies aimed at reducing predator abundance often fail to reduce conflicts (Lennox et al. 2018; Treves and Karanth 2003).”

“Because of their extensive range requirements, these species frequently traverse heterogeneous landscapes, including roads and other linear infrastructure that increase the likelihood of mortality through collisions (Loveridge et al. 2010; Schwab and Zandbergen 2011; Swanson et al. 2008).”

“…increased to approximately 200 individuals following conservation measures that included habitat protection, genetic rescue, and mitigation of road mortality (Foster and Humphrey 1995; Hostetler et al. 2010; Johnson et al. 2010; Lotz et al. 1997; Onorato et al. 2010, 2024; van de Kerk et al. 2019).”

“…may be used more intermittently, potentially by dispersing individuals, as has been suggested in other cougar populations (e.g., Suraci et al. 2025; Thompson and Jenks 2010), whereas protected areas may reduce opportunities for repeated conflicts due to lower densities of humans and domestic…”

“Once reduced to an estimated 20–30 individuals in the 1990s (McBride et al. 2008), the population has increased to approximately 200 individuals following conservation measures that included habitat protection, genetic rescue, and mitigation of road mortality (Foster and Humphrey 1995; Hostetler et…”

“…Frakes et al. 2015), maintaining habitat connectivity while minimizing conflict and anthropogenic mortality will be critical for promoting dispersal, enhancing genetic diversity, and supporting long-term population persistence (Beier 1995; Onorato et al. 2010, 2024; Schwab and Zandbergen 2011).”

“…increased to approximately 200 individuals following conservation measures that included habitat protection, genetic rescue, and mitigation of road mortality (Foster and Humphrey 1995; Hostetler et al. 2010; Johnson et al. 2010; Lotz et al. 1997; Onorato et al. 2010, 2024; van de Kerk et al. 2019).”

“This suggests that once populations become established within a landscape, these processes could reach dynamic equilibrium, reflecting a balance among other factors such as habitat connectivity, movement behavior, and interactions with humans (Vasudev et al. 2022).”

“However, these processes are often examined separately and are rarely studied within a unified spatiotemporal framework that accounts for imperfect detection and changing population dynamics (but see Goswami et al. 2015; Moore et al. 2018; Puri et al. 2022; Santos et al. 2022).”

“…results identified several road segments with high probabilities of collision occurrence, particularly in areas critical for connectivity between the core panther population on public lands in the south and suitable habitat on private lands to the north (Swanson et al. 2008; Thatcher et al. 2009).”

“Imperfect detection can arise when events go unobserved or unreported, such as an un-confirmed depredation or a collision that is not reported to management agencies (McClintock et al. 2015).”

“Closure within primary sampling seasons implies that the underlying state, whether a sampling unit is susceptible to conflicts or collisions, is assumed constant within a primary sampling season, while allowing changes between primary seasons (MacKenzie et al. 2017; Pollock 1982).”

“These habitat configurations could facilitate panther movement while increasing the availability of forest edges for stalking prey, potentially increasing the likelihood of conflicts such as livestock predation (Frakes et al. 2015; Jacobs et al. 2015).”

“As human development continues to expand across current and potential panther range (Davis et al. 2021; Frakes et al. 2015), maintaining habitat connectivity while minimizing conflict and anthropogenic mortality will be critical for promoting dispersal, enhancing genetic diversity, and supporting…”

“These programs have had a special focus in and around the Golden Gate Estates, an area documented as having the highest number of human-panther conflicts (Rodgers and Pienaar 2017, 2018).”

“Previous studies have examined aspects of these processes, including livestock depredation (Jacobs et al. 2015), public perception (Langin and Jacobson 2012; Rodgers and Pienaar 2017), and collisions (Schwab and Zandbergen 2011), but a comprehensive assessment of their spatiotemporal dynamics and…”

“…landscapes may be used more intermittently, potentially by dispersing individuals, as has been suggested in other cougar populations (e.g., Suraci et al. 2025; Thompson and Jenks 2010), whereas protected areas may reduce opportunities for repeated conflicts due to lower densities of…”

“However, these processes are often examined separately and are rarely studied within a unified spatiotemporal framework that accounts for imperfect detection and changing population dynamics (but see Goswami et al. 2015; Moore et al. 2018; Puri et al. 2022; Santos et al. 2022).”