Analysis Of The Article On Panther Conservation Project

According to the paper, the panther species of North America is listed as endangered and is one of the last from that area. A panther population of Florida was rediscovered and efforts immediately went underway to conserve, support, and protect them. The authors gathered data from this panther conservation project and analyzed its effectiveness in a meta-analysis.

Their main point made in the paper was that because of the conservationists’ efforts, the panther population saw some improvements. However, because of the climate change, habitat loss, and other environmental issues, there may be detrimental changes in the population in the future. This article was a descriptive study, where previously collected data was compiled and analyzed. The authors look at the results of this conservation project in this paper, gathering their data from 591 panthers. This insures a large sample pool, and therefore avoids the chance of pseudoreplication. This was to insure that inbreeding was decreased, thereby avoiding the genetic consequences it would cause, and increase the population. The paper includes a data table that keeps track of the different traits and defects that they observed in the panthers. They then went on to find STR in the the samples in order to make life histories and connect the samples to each other, to show similarities between the subjects in regards to their life histories. All of the panthers were then grouped together into phylogenetic groups, allowing the authors’ to better understand the panthers’ genetic histories. They then were able to track the offspring of Texas female panthers, which were placed in the area for mating. The authors saw that the numbers within the Florida panther population began to increase and continued to throughout the years. After 2004, however, the population increase began to stop at the same time that the average age of panthers increased. A challenge that the conservation project faced was the disease in the population. The paper states that from 2001 to 2007, 19 of the panthers in the study area were found to have feline leukemia. They tried to combat this outbreak by vaccinating panthers who had not been exposed to the virus, which proved to be effective in stopping the spread of the disease.

The authors’ analysis of the data shows that the project was a success in increasing the population and protecting it from genetic defects. Although it is proven that conservation efforts did indeed help the Florida panther population, there are still multiple challenges that need to be overcome. The panthers’ environment is being affected by climate change, negatively affecting all wildlife in the area. Learning about the issues this panther conservation project faces will give us insight on the problems other projects involving conservation of large predators may have and possible solutions to them.