Data from: Structural habitat predicts functional dispersal habitat of a large carnivore: how leopards change spots

Natal dispersal promotes inter-population linkage, and is key to spatial
distribution of populations. Degradation of suitable landscape structures
beyond the specific threshold of an individual's ability to disperse
can therefore lead to disruption of functional landscape connectivity and
impact metapopulation function. Because it ignores behavioral responses of
individuals, structural connectivity is easier to assess than functional
connectivity and is often used as a surrogate for landscape connectivity
modeling. However using structural resource selection models as surrogate
for modeling functional connectivity through dispersal could be erroneous.
We tested how well a second-order resource selection function (RSF) models
(structural connectivity), based on GPS telemetry data from resident adult
leopard (Panthera pardus L.), could predict subadult habitat use during
dispersal (functional connectivity). We created eight non-exclusive
subsets of the subadult data based on differing definitions of dispersal
to assess the predictive ability of our adult-based RSF model extrapolated
over a broader landscape. Dispersing leopards used habitats in accordance
with adult selection patterns, regardless of the definition of dispersal
considered. We demonstrate that, for a wide-ranging apex carnivore,
functional connectivity through natal dispersal corresponds to structural
connectivity as modeled by a second-order RSF. Mapping of the adult-based
habitat classes provides direct visualization of the potential linkages
between populations, without the need to model paths between a priori
starting and destination points. The use of such landscape scale RSFs may
provide insight into predicting suitable dispersal habitat peninsulas in
human-dominated landscapes where mitigation of human–wildlife conflict
should be focused. We recommend the use of second-order RSFs for landscape
conservation planning and propose a similar approach to the conservation
of other wide-ranging large carnivore species where landscape-scale
resource selection data already exist.