Landscape Conservation Strategy for the Florida Panther in South Florida

Florida Panther Subteam of the Multi-species/Ecosystem Recovery Implementation Team for South Florida

From Executive Summary: The Florida panther (Puma concolor coryi) is an endangered, wide-ranging predator limited to south Florida. For over a decade, it has become increasingly evident that the panther population shares the south Florida landscape with a rapidly growing human population. While conservation strategies have been implemented with varying degrees of success, it is necessary at this time to approach the conservation of panther habitat from a landscape level. In February 2000, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) appointed a subteam of the overarching Multi-species/Ecosystem Recovery Implementation Team (MERIT) to develop a landscape-level strategy for the conservation of the Florida panther population in south Florida. The primary goal of this effort was to identify a strategically located set of lands containing sufficient area and appropriate land cover types to ensure the long-term survival of the Florida panther. This Florida Panther Subteam of MERIT (Subteam) focused its efforts on the area south of the Caloosahatchee River, where the reproducing panther population currently exists. Analyses of Florida panther radio-telemetry data with respect to land cover reveal that panthers prefer forest cover types as daytime rest sites, but they also utilize other natural and disturbed cover types for feeding, breeding and shelter, as long as patches of forest with understory are present in the landscape. Likewise, prey densities add a further complexity to determining suitable panther habitat. An updated Florida panther potential habitat model was created based on the following criteria: forest patches greater than 2 hectares (ha); non-urban cover types less than 200 meters (m) from forest patches; and exclusion oflands less than 300m from urban areas. The potential habitat map was reviewed in relation to telemetry data, recent satellite imagery, and panther home range polygons; boundaries were drawn around lands defined as the Primary Zone, the most important area needed to support a self-sustaining panther population. The landscape context of areas surrounding the Primary Zone was modeled, and the results were used to draw the boundaries of the Secondary Zone, an area that may support the panther population in the Primary Zone but where habitat restoration may be needed. Least cost path modeling was used to identify the optimum path likely to be used by panthers dispersing out of south Florida, and the results were used to draw the boundaries of the Dispersal Zone, a small area that needs to be protected to ensure the presence of a dispersal pathway. In general population viability modeling suggests that: (1) panther populations of fewer than 50 individuals are likely to go extinct; (2) populations of 60 to 70 are likely to decline by 25 percent over 100 years and be subject to inbreeding depression; (3) populations of 80 to 100 are somewhat stable demographically but nevertheless plagued by genetics problems; and (4) populations greater than 240 are demographically stable and large enough to retain 90 percent of original genetic heterozygosity. Given known density estimates, the Primary Zone is large enough to support 71 to 84 adult and juvenile panthers. Similarly, the Secondary Zone, in its current condition, is capable of supporting only about 6 to 10 panthers. If it is restored, however, it has the potential to support about 25 to 30 panthers. As of 2002, the current verified population was 80 adult and subadult panthers (not including kittens at the den) (McBride 2002). Modeling results indicate that a population of this size is likely to decline gradually and would be subject to genetic problems without management intervention. A preliminary analysis of the potential for central Florida habitats to support a population of panthers dispersing out of south Florida proved inconclusive.