Research overview: climate refugia concepts in felid conservation planning

Climate refugia, places relatively buffered from climate change where species can persist, are an increasingly central organizing idea in conservation planning. This overview surveys the typology of refugia, in situ versus ex situ, and how they are identified from topographic diversity, microclimate, and projected stability of suitable conditions. It reviews how refugia thinking applies to cats, from high-elevation snow leopard strongholds to climatically stable tiger and jaguar forest. The synthesis frames refugia as anchors for climate-adaptive conservation, explaining why protecting durable habitat cores, and the connectivity to reach them, is promoted as a hedge against uncertainty, since safeguarding places likely to remain habitable buys time and options for species on the move.