Relative sensitivities of mammalian carnivores to habitat fragmentation

This study examined how a guild of mammalian carnivores responds to habitat fragmentation in southern California, finding that species differ markedly in their sensitivity to isolation and patch size, with larger, wide-ranging carnivores generally more vulnerable. By surveying carnivore presence across fragmented habitat patches, the author showed that fragmentation can restructure entire carnivore communities and trigger mesopredator release when top predators disappear. The work is a foundational reference for understanding why large cats like pumas are especially exposed to fragmentation and how their loss reverberates through ecosystems. It frames fragmentation as a community-level process, providing context for why connectivity conservation focuses on the most area-demanding species first.