Home range variation in leopards living across the human density gradient

Abstract

Home range size is a fundamental measure of animal space use, providing insight into habitat quality, animal density, and social organization. Human impacts increasingly are affecting wildlife, especially among wide-ranging species that encounter anthropogenic disturbance. Leopards (Panthera pardus) provide a useful model for studying this relationship because leopards coexist with people at high and low human densities and are sensitive to human disturbance. To compare leopard home range size across a range of human densities and other environmental conditions, we combined animal tracking data from 74 leopards in multiple studies with new analytical techniques that accommodate different sampling regimes. We predicted that home ranges would be smaller in more productive habitats and areas of higher human population density due to possible linkage with leopard prey subsidies from domestic species. We also predicted that male leopards would have larger home ranges than those of females. Home ranges varied in size from 14.5 km2 in India to 885.6 km2 in Namibia, representing a 60-fold magnitude of variation. Home range stability was evident for 95.2% of nontranslocated individuals and 38.5% of translocated individuals. Leopard home range sizes were negatively correlated with landscape productivity, and males used larger areas than females. Leopards in open habitats had a predicted negative correlation in home range size with human population density, but leopards in closed habitats used larger home ranges in areas with more people.

Estimating global determinants of leopard home range size in a changing world

“…With regard to intraspecific patterns in HR size, female HR size was a chief driver of HR selection for males. Previous local studies support this finding, asserting the importance of female HRs for male leopards (Bailey, 2005;Snider et al, 2021) and felids in general (Macdonald & Loveridge, 2010;Hunter, 2015). The ratio of male:female HR size was relatively stable over the global range (Appendix S3, Fig.…”

“…Due to inconsistent prey availability under these harsh environmental conditions, foraging leopards likely require broader and larger movements. Previous research on leopards and other medium and large felids, such as the Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) in Europe, identified the importance of vegetation productivity on HR size (Herfindal et al, 2005;Snider et al, 2021), suggesting that this could be a general pattern among widely distributed felids (see also Nilsen et al, 2005). Thus, global warming might have (9) indicates the predictor was not part of that modelling procedure.…”

“…This is especially important for species such as the leopard, which hunts and scavenges a wide variety of species in a wide range of environmental conditions (Matthew W. Hayward et al., 2006). Previous research incorporating 10 sites in Africa and Asia identified ecosystem productivity as inversely related to home‐range size (Snider et al., 2021). However, in addition to prey, leopards often coexist with other large carnivores, including larger competitors such as tigers ( Panthera tigris ), lions ( Panthera leo ) and spotted hyenas ( Crocuta crocuta ).…”

Resource exploitation efficiency collapses the home range of an apex predator

“…As such, territorial animals are expected to defend a home range large enough to meet their needs, but no larger (Calsbeek & Sinervo, 2002). For both territorial and non‐territorial species, one key extrinsic determinant of home range size is forage resource availability, with home range size decreasing in more productive environments (Kodric‐Brown & Brown, 1978; Snider et al, 2021).…”

Contrasting effects of human settlement on the interaction among sympatric apex carnivores

“…leopard's average home range size of approx. 50 km 2 ) [ 39 ]. Studies have shown that large prey species were the most preferred prey of tigers, leopards and dholes, accounting for a significant portion of the total prey biomass [ 33 , 40 – 42 ].…”