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 def...出生扩散（natal dispersal）可促进种群间联结，是调控种群空间分布的关键过程。当适宜景观结构的退化程度超出个体扩散能力阈值时，会破坏功能景观连通性，进而影响集合种群（metapopulation）的功能。由于结构连通性（structural connectivity）未考虑个体的行为响应，其评估难度低于功能连通性，因此常被用作景观连通性建模的替代指标。然而，将二阶资源选择函数（second-order resource selection function, RSF）模型（即结构连通性）作为替代方案，通过扩散过程模拟功能连通性的做法可能存在误差。本研究基于定居成年豹（学名：Panthera pardus L.）的GPS遥测（GPS telemetry）数据构建二阶资源选择函数模型，以检验其能否准确预测亚成体在扩散过程中的生境利用（即功能连通性）。我们基于不同的[原文未完整给出]构建了亚成体数据集的8个非排他性子集。