A Habitat Assessment for Florida Panther Population Expansion into Central Florida
Abstract
One of the goals of the Florida panther (Puma concolor coryi) recovery plan is to expand panther range north of the Caloosahatchee River in central Florida. Our objective was to evaluate the potential of that region to support panthers. We used a geographic information system and the Mahalanobis distance statistic to develop a habitat model based on landscape characteristics associated with panther home ranges. We used cross-validation and an independent telemetry data set to test the habitat model. We also conducted a least-cost path analysis to identify potential habitat linkages and to provide a relative measure of connectivity among habitat patches. Variables in our model were paved road density, major highways, human population density, percentage of the area permanently or semipermanently flooded, and percentage of the area in natural land cover. Our model clearly identified habitat typical of that found within panther home ranges based on model testing with recent telemetry data. We identified 4 potential translocation sites that may support a total of approximately 36 panthers. Although we identified potential habitat linkages, our least-cost path analyses highlighted the extreme isolation of panther habitat in portions of the study area. Human intervention will likely be required if the goal is to establish female panthers north of the Caloosahatchee in the near term.
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Only Kautz et al. and Thatcher et al. attempted to analyze first-order selection (range within the region).
“only Kautz et al. [7] and Thatcher et al. [10] attempted to analyze the first order selection (range within the region).”
From Landscape Analysis of Adult Florida Panther Habitat (2015) · cites this paper as [10]
In the Study section (page not available in our copy), Thatcher et al. explicitly describe their comparison of actual panther home ranges with randomly distributed home ranges as “2nd-order habitat selection.” That contradicts the citing sentence’s classification of their analysis as first-order selection. The paper also cannot establish the sentence’s claim that only two studies attempted such an analysis. (LLM, conf=0.90)
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Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThree previous resource selection analyses were second-order selections (home ranges within the range).
“3 were second order selection analyses (home ranges within the range) [6, 7, 10]”
From Landscape Analysis of Adult Florida Panther Habitat (2015) · cites this paper as [10]
Thatcher et al. developed a panther habitat model using the Mahalanobis distance statistic and landscape characteristics within panther home ranges, based on older mid-1990s telemetry and landscape data.
“Thatcher et al. [10] developed a panther habitat model using the Mahalanobis distance statistic and landscape characteristics within panther home ranges, based on older (mid-1990s) telemetry and landscape data.”
From Landscape Analysis of Adult Florida Panther Habitat (2015) · cites this paper as [10]
To the authors' knowledge, this is the first model to demonstrate the importance of forest edge and water depth in panther habitat use, although other studies have examined related factors such as forest patch size and water regime.
“To our knowledge, this is the first model to demonstrate the importance of forest edge and water depth in panther habitat use, although other studies have examined related factors such as forest patch size [5, 7, 9, 36] and water regime (duration of flooding) [10].”
From Landscape Analysis of Adult Florida Panther Habitat (2015) · cites this paper as [10]
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Flagged first, then by citations
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- THATCHER, C., F. T. VAN MANEN, AND J. D. CLARK. 2006. Habitat assessment to identify potential sites for Florida panther reintro- duction in the Southeast. Journal of Wildlife Management 70:752- 763.
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- Authors
- Thatcher, C. A., van Manen, F. T., & Clark, J. D.
- Affiliations
- University of Tennessee at Knoxville (US)
- United States Geological Survey (US)
- Corresponding author
- Clark, Joseph D.
- Venue
- Journal of Mammalogy
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2009-08-14
- Volume
- 90
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 918-925
- ISSN
- 0022-2372 (ISSN-L)
- 1545-1542
- OpenAlex
- W2097958734
- Cited by
- 29
- References
- 25
- Citations by year
- 2024: 1 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 6 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 3 · 2012: 3
- FWCI
- 2.04
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Mammalogy (publishedVersion)
- BioOne Complete (BioOne) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
- National Park Service
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Wildlife-Road Interactions and Conservation
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecological Modeling › Species Distribution and Climate Change
- Keywords
- Florida panther, Puma concolor coryi, ecological niche modeling, range expansion, habitat connectivity, least-cost path analysis, Mahalanobis distance, home range, human population density, habitat fragmentation, Caloosahatchee River, Central Florida, wildlife recovery
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