Research overview: Florida panther habitat connectivity

The Florida panther, an isolated cougar population confined to the southern tip of Florida, depends on a shrinking, fragmented landscape threaded by highways and expanding development. This overview synthesizes telemetry and habitat research showing how panthers move among remaining forest and swamp patches, the corridors that link core habitat to potential expansion areas north of the Caloosahatchee River, and the central role of roads in shaping and limiting movement. Connectivity is critical both for everyday ranging and for the population's long-term need to expand its range to recover. The overview discusses how movement data inform land protection, road-crossing placement, and recovery planning. Florida panther connectivity research is a long-running case study in conserving a genetically imperiled big cat hemmed into a rapidly developing peninsula.