Our new movement ecology paper out in the journal Oikos, investigating the influence of vertical relief and 3D landscape features on home range patterns of Persian leopards in NE Iran.
Most studies that estimate home range consider only a bivariate frequency distribution represented by a 2D planimetric surface, assuming that the animals inhabit landscapes that are completely flat. Obviously, this is rarely the case.
Using satellite telemetry and DEM analyses, we found that the topographic (3D) home range exceeded planimetric (2D) estimates by up to 38%, suggesting that planimetric modeling underestimates home range size in mountains.
We also observed that resident leopards exhibit significant altitudinal partitioning of predation,200 meters higher/lower than neighbouring prime males. It suggests that leopards that have overlapping home ranges may still utilize exclusive hunting territories in mountains.
Effect of life stage Here, you see higher color diversity for non-resident vs. resident leopards, confirming that residents stick to a specific elevation range, while non-residents roam more across elevation range.
Leopards showed elevation predation patterns, with bezoar goat and urial as highland prey whereas lowland prey include sheep, domestic dog and wild pig.
Implications: Elevation can be included in conflict resolution plans through elevation zoning efforts.
Incorporating topographic relief in surface estimation, density measures can potentially be overestimated in mountainous landscapes.
Implications: Comparing density estimates across varied topographic ruggedness and elevation needs to be done cautiously.
Final message: Elevation matters in mountains, we should not deal with mountains the same as plains!