Estimating leopard density across the highly modified human-dominated landscape of the Western Cape, South Africa
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Date
2021
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Cambridge University
Abstract
Apex predators play a critical role in maintaining
the health of ecosystems but are highly susceptible to habitat
degradation and loss caused by land-use changes, and to
anthropogenic mortality. The leopard Panthera pardus is
the last free-roaming large carnivore in the Western
Cape province, South Africa. During –, we carried
out a camera-trap survey across three regions covering
c. , km of the Western Cape. Our survey comprised
camera sites sampling nearly , camera-trap nights,
resulting in the identification of individuals. We used two
spatially explicit capture–recapture methods (R programmes
secr and SPACECAP) to provide a comprehensive density
analysis capable of incorporating environmental and anthropogenic factors.
Description
Keywords
Camera trapping, Carnivore conservation, Leopard, Western Cape, Apex predators
Citation
Devens, C. H. et al. (2021). Estimating leopard density across the highly modified human-dominated landscape of the Western Cape, South Africa. ORYX, 55(1), 34-45