Determining minimum habitat areas and corridors for cougars

This early conservation-planning study modelled how much habitat and what corridor configuration cougars need to persist in fragmenting southern California landscapes. By analysing demography and movement, the author derived estimates of minimum viable habitat area and the importance of connecting corridors between reserves, providing a quantitative basis for reserve design before urbanisation severed populations. The work anticipated the later genetic-isolation crises of Los Angeles area pumas and helped establish corridor conservation as essential for wide-ranging carnivores. It remains a foundational reference for planning the connectivity infrastructure, including wildlife crossings, now central to keeping urban-edge cougar populations viable.