Fig 1.
Location of the Florida panther study area and major land cover classes.
(a) Main map shows the study area in relation to the Primary Zone, an area of focus by conservation agencies. Inset shows the location of resident adult telemetry points from 2004 through 2013. Breeding panthers do not occur north of the Caloosahatchee River. (b) Geographical distribution of 10 major land cover categories within the study area, used as explanatory variables in the random forest model. Categories were distilled from the Florida Land Use and Cover Classification System (FLUCCS).
Table 1.
Land cover categories used as explanatory variables and their extent in the study area.
Fig 2.
Landscape characteristics within the study area used as explanatory variables.
(a) amount of forest edge (km/km2); (b) average water depths during the dry season (m); (c) area-weighted average human population density (people/km2); (d) road density (km/km2).
Fig 3.
Probability of presence and adult panther habitat.
(a) Probability of presence (P) of resident adult panthers throughout the study area in south Florida, as predicted by the random forest model. (b) Grid cells with P > 0.338 are considered to be adult (breeding) panther habitat. Adult panther habitat is shown in relation to the Primary and Secondary Zones.
Table 2.
Accuracy metrics for the Florida panther habitat model.
Fig 4.
Importance was calculated based on mean decrease in model accuracy (black bars) and mean decrease in Gini index (gray bars). Importance scores were standardized relative to the most important variable by each method. Variables are ranked from highest to lowest importance, based on combined scores from the two methods. Wet_For = wetland forest, Pop_Dens = human population density, For_Edge = forest edge, dry_depth = average dry season water depth, wet_depth = average wet season water depth, Wet_Shrub = wetland shrub, Rd_Dens = road density, FW_Wet = open freshwater wetlands, Ag = agricultural, Up_For = upland forest, Grass = grasslands/dry prairies, Water = open water, Up_Shrub = upland shrub, SW_Wet = saltwater wetland.
Fig 5.
Sensitivity of model predictions (probability of presence, P) to changes in selected explanatory variables.
(a) human population density; (b) road density; (c) forest edge; (d) wetland forest cover; (e) agriculture (other than pasture); (f) average dry season water depth. The response to each variable was examined at high, medium and low ranges of P. The P range where the variable had its largest effect is shown.
Fig 6.
Average probability of presence in Florida panther home ranges.
Males (open circles): median = 0.74, n = 35; females (solid circles): median = 0.82, n = 52. One male home range (average P = 0.35) is not shown.