Research overview: validating corridors with GPS tracks

Predicted corridors are only useful if real animals actually use them, and this overview examines how researchers validate connectivity models against independent movement data. By overlaying GPS tracks of dispersing and resident cats on modeled corridors, studies test whether animals preferentially travel through predicted linkages and avoid high-resistance areas. Concordance builds confidence in the models, while mismatches reveal flawed resistance assumptions or unaccounted behaviors. The overview discusses the value of tracking dispersers specifically, since corridors matter most for movement between populations, and the difficulty of obtaining such data given the rarity and risk of dispersal events. It also covers complementary validation with genetic connectivity. Ground-truthing corridor predictions with observed movement is what separates speculative maps from reliable tools for siting crossings and protecting linkages.