Research overview: felids in Asian tea and coffee plantation landscapes

Tea, coffee and rubber plantations across South and Southeast Asia form extensive human-modified habitats used by leopards, leopard cats, jungle cats and fishing cats with varying tolerance. This overview synthesises camera-trap and occupancy research on how plantation structure, shade, understorey and proximity to forest and settlement shape felid presence, and how plantations function as movement corridors or population sinks. It examines conflict over livestock and poultry, road and snare mortality, and the conservation potential of plantation management that retains cover and connectivity. The synthesis frames plantation mosaics as major, underappreciated felid habitat across densely populated Asia.