DOI: 10.5061/dryad.d7d7b2t
title: Data from: Multi-scale habitat modeling identifies spatial conservation priorities for mainland clouded leopards (Neofelis nebulosa)

description: Aim Deforestation is rapidly altering Southeast Asian landscapes,
 resulting in some of the highest rates of habitat loss worldwide. Among
 the many species facing declines in this region, clouded leopards rank
 notably for their ambassadorial potential and capacity to act as powerful
 levers for broader forest conservation programmes. Thus identifying core
 habitat and conservation opportunities are critical for curbing further
 Neofelis declines and extending umbrella protection for diverse forest
 biota similarly threatened by widespread habitat loss. Furthermore, a
 recent comprehensive habitat assessment of Sunda clouded leopards (N.
 diardi) highlights the lack of such information for the mainland species
 (N. nebulosa), and facilitates a comparative assessment. Location
 Southeast Asia. Methods Species-habitat relationships are scale-dependent,
 yet &lt;5% of all recent habitat modeling papers apply robust
 approaches to optimize multivariate scale relationships. Using one of the
 largest camera trap datasets ever collected, we developed scale-optimized
 species distribution models for two con-generic carnivores, and
 quantitatively compared their habitat niches. Results We identified core
 habitat, connectivity corridors, and ranked remaining habitat patches for
 conservation prioritization. Closed canopy forest was the strongest
 predictor, with ~25% lower Neofelis detections when forest cover declined
 from 100 to 65%. A strong, positive association with increasing
 precipitation suggests ongoing climate change as a growing threat along
 drier edges of the species' range. While deforestation and land use
 conversion were deleterious for both species, N. nebulosa was uniquely
 associated with shrublands and grasslands. We identified 800km2 as a
 minimum patch size for supporting clouded leopard conservation. Main
 Conclusions We illustrate the utility of multi-scale modeling for
 identifying key habitat requirements, optimal scales of use, and critical
 targets for guiding conservation prioritization. Curbing deforestation and
 development within remaining core habitat and dispersal corridors,
 particularly in Myanmar, Laos, and Malaysia, is critical for supporting
 evolutionary potential of clouded leopards and conservation of associated
 forest biodiversity.
description: % Closed Forest
 16km-radius WindowUsing Hansen et al.’s
 (2013) original percent forest cover layer
 (http://earthenginepartners.appspot.com/science-2013-global-forest/download_v1.2.html), we reclassified &gt;40% forest cover as ‘closed forest’. We then used FRAGSTATS (McGarigal, Cushman, Neel, & Ene, 2012) to calculate the percentage of the landscape occupied by closed forest habitat within a 16km-radius moving window. The data is in raster .tif format for use in GIS. We resampled the source data from its native 30m resolution to 250m resolution. Coordinate system: Asia South Albers Equal Area Conic.CF_PLAND_16000.tifShrubland/Grassland Correlation Length 16km-radius WindowOriginal data for this GIS raster layer was obtained from the ESA CCI Land Cover Layer 300m 2015 (www.esa-landcover-cci.org). We first reclassified the original data layer, denoting shrubland/grassland as present (1) or absent (0). We then used FRAGSTATS (McGarigal, Cushman, Neel, & Ene, 2012) to calculate the correlation length or area-weighted mean of gyration within a 16km-radius moving window. Correlation length measures the average distance an individual can travel within a habitat patch, or in this case the average extensiveness of shrubland/grassland habitat within a 16km-radius window. We re-sampled the source data from its native 300m resolution to 250m. Units are in meters. Coordinate system: Asia South Albers Equal Area Conic.SHG_GYRATE_16000.tifCompound Topographic Index Focal Mean 500m-radius WindowThis GIS raster was derived from Jarvis, Reuter, Nelson, & Guevara's (2008) digital elevation model (http://srtm.csi.cgiar.org) using the Geomorphometry & Gradient Metrics Toolbox (Evans, Oakleaf, Cushman, & Theobald, 2014) in ArcGIS 10.2.2 (ESRI, Redlands, CA, USA, 2011). Compound topographic index (CTI) characterizes flow accumulation. Low elevation drainages incur high CTI, whereas mountaintops and ridgelines exhibit low CTI. We then used neighborhood statistics in ArcGIS to calculate the focal mean within a 500m-radius moving window. We re-sampled the native 90m resolution DEM to 250m. Coordinate system: Asia South Albers Equal Area Conic.CTI_FM_500.tif% Mosaic Cropland & Native Vegetation 1km-radius WindowOriginal data for this GIS raster was obtained from the ESA CCI Land Cover Layer 300m 2015 (www.esa-landcover-cci.org). We first reclassified the original data layer, denoting mosaic cropland and native vegetation habitat as present (1) or absent (0). We then used FRAGSTATS (McGarigal, Cushman, Neel, & Ene, 2012) to calculate the percent of the landscape occupied by mosaic habitat within a 1km-radius moving window. We re-sampled the source data from its native 300m resolution to 250m. Coordinate system: Asia South Albers Equal Area Conic.Mosaic_PLAND_1000.tifProtected Area Correlation Length 8km-radius WindowData for this GIS raster layer was obtained from the IUCN & UNEP-WCMC 2017 World Database on Protected Areas (http://www.protectedplanet.net/). We first reclassified the original data layer, denoting protected status as present (1) or absent (0). We then used FRAGSTATS (McGarigal, Cushman, Neel, & Ene, 2012) to calculate the correlation length or area-weighted mean of gyration within an 8km-radius moving window. Here correlation length measures the average distance an animal could travel within protected areas within an 8km-radius window. Data are at 250m resolution; units are in meters. Coordinate system: Asia South Albers Equal Area Conic.PA_GYRATE_8000.tifMean Annual Precipitation Focal Mean 32km-radius WindowData for this GIS raster layer was obtained from the WorldClim Global Climate Data Portal (http://worldclim.org/version2). We then used neighborhood statistics in ArcGIS to calculate the focal mean of MAP within a 32km-radius moving window. We re-sampled the source data from its native 30-arcsec resolution (~1km) to 250m. Units are in millimeters of precipitation. Coordinate system: Asia South Albers Equal Area Conic.MAP_FM_32000.tifMainland Clouded Leopard Habitat Suitability Model - 4 ThresholdsThe zip file contains four GIS raster layers representing a range of thresholds of the mainland clouded leopard habitat suitability model. Layers include 50th, 75th, 90th, and 97.5th percentiles of the multi-scale GLMM. Suitable habitat is classified as 1; all habitat below a specified threshold is classified as 0. Raster resolution: 250m; coordinate system: Asia South Albers Equal Area Conic.CL_GLMM_thresholds.zipMainland Clouded Leopard Habitat Suitability Model - ContinuousThis GIS raster layer is the projected multi-scale habitat suitability model for the mainland clouded leopard, based on beta coefficients of the GLMM and a mean of 79.47 camera trap nights averaged across all camera stations. Model projection units are number of clouded leopard observations predicted across multivariate niche space, given 79.47 active camera trap nights. Thus the specific output value is of little importance; the model output should rather be interpreted on a relative scale. Habitat &gt;4000m elevation was reclassified as non-suitable and assigned the lowest model output value. Resolution: 250m; coordinate system: Asia South Albers Equal Area Conic.CL_GLMM_continuous.tifTop 28 High Quality Habitat Patches for the Mainland Clouded LeopardThis GIS raster layer contains the top 28 patches of high quality habitat for the mainland clouded leopard, based on the 90th percentile threshold of the habitat suitability model. We identified and ranked all habitat patches &gt;1000km2, based on descending habitat area. Table S8 in the Supplementary Information file associated with Macdonald et al. (2019) provides additional information for each habitat patch, including associated protected areas, mean correlation length within each patch, and percent of patch area designated as protected. Resolution: 500m; coordinate system: Asia South Albers Equal Area Conic.CL_HS_3classes_Top28_PATCHES.tif