Multiscale statistical approach to assess habitat suitability and connectivity of common leopard (Panthera pardus) in Kailash Sacred Landscape, India

In this study, we assess potential habitats and connectivity for the common leopard (Panthera pardus) in the Indian part of the Kailash Sacred Landscape to predict suitable areas for future dispersal within the landscape. We used a modeling-based approach, which incorporates sixteen landscape variables to identify priority areas for leopard conservation in the Kailash Sacred Landscape. We opportunistically collected 205 presence locations across the 7120 km2 landscape during 2009-2015. The importance of each variable was evaluated using univariate regression analysis across five different spatial scales. The best spatial scale of each response variable was selected based on lowest Akaike's Information Criterion (AIC). Due to multicollinearity in the landscape variables we computed Principal Components and used eight of the sixteen components as predictors in a multivariate generalized linear model of habitat suitability. A resistance surface model was developed to compute the leopard movement or connectivity across the landscape. We identified corridors between the largest forest patches in the landscape with UNICOR. Here we predict that a large area of the landscape comprising suitable leopard habitat is mostly found at the middle elevational range. This covers about 19.13% of the study area, of which 0.06% area was found to be highly suitable, 4.19% suitable and 14.87% moderately suitable. Further, we have also identified four priority connective corridors. We propose that the conservation of the leopard in this region requires immediate attention by applying integrated landscape-level management to arrest their recent high levels of mortality risk caused due to Human-Leopard conflict. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.