Data for: Habitat suitability of the Persian leopard along the Iran-Iraq border

Habitat fragmentation has major negative impacts on wildlife populations
and the connectivity could reduce these negative impacts. This study was
conducted to assess habitat suitability and structural connectivity of the
Persian leopard along the Iran-Iraq border (i.e., the Zagros Mountains)
and compare the situation of identified core habitats and connectivity
with existing conservation areas (CAs). An ensemble modeling approach
resulting from five models was used to predict habitat suitability. To
identify core habitats and corridors along the Iran-Iraq border, factorial
least-cost path analyses were applied. The results revealed that
topographic roughness, distance to conservation areas, annual
precipitation, vegetation/cropland density and distance to rivers were the
most influential variables for predicting the occurrence of the Persian
leopard in the study area. By an estimated dispersal distance of 82 km
(suggested by previous studies), three core habitats were identified (two
cores in Iran and one core in Iraq). The largest cores were located in the
south and the center of the study area, which had the highest connectivity
priorities. The connectivity from these cores was maintained to the core
within the Iraqi side. Only about one-fifth of detected core habitats and
relative corridors were protected by CAs in the study area. Detected core
habitats and connectivity areas in this study could be an appropriate road
map to accomplish the CAs network along the Iran-Iraq border regarding
Persian leopard conservation. Establishing transboundary CAs, particularly
in the core habitat located in the center of the study area, is strongly
recommended to conserve existing large carnivores, including the Persian
leopard.