Research overview: GPS-cluster methods for estimating felid kill rates

An overview of how the advent of GPS telemetry transformed estimation of kill rates for solitary cats such as pumas, leopards and lynx. The approach identifies spatial clusters of frequent locations, then field-investigates a sample to determine which clusters represent kills and the size of prey involved, before modeling cluster attributes to predict kills across the dataset. This survey covers cluster-detection algorithms, the trade-offs of fix interval and investigation effort, detection biases against small prey, and conversion of kill counts to consumed biomass. Compared with snow-tracking and scat analysis, GPS clusters reduce seasonal bias and disturbance. The method now underpins most modern felid predation studies, and its assumptions and limitations are an active area of methodological refinement.