A range-wide model of landscape connectivity and conservation for the jaguar

This foundational study built a continental-scale model of jaguar habitat and connectivity from northern Mexico to Argentina, identifying core populations and the corridors linking them. Using expert assessment and landscape data, the authors mapped a network of jaguar conservation units and the connections needed to keep them from becoming isolated. The framework underpins the regional Jaguar Corridor Initiative and provides the spatial baseline against which climate change and deforestation impacts are now evaluated. It matters because maintaining a connected, range-wide jaguar population is the central strategy for the species, and any assessment of how habitat loss or warming reshapes jaguar prospects builds on this map of cores and corridors.