2.2 Focal species
The study focuses on North China leopard, a top carnivore and flagship
species in the study area, which is facing severe challenges due to
human activities and habitat fragmentation. To the best of our
knowledge, it has not been carried out the study on the movement ecology
of North China leopard using GPS wildlife tracking, therefore, there are
few North China leopard movement data on the field migration and
dispersal capacity available at present. But in several protected areas,
wildlife surveys have been conducted by using infrared trigger camera
capture technology. Based on the official information that the protected
areas inhabited by North China leopard, provided by the nature reserves,
published literature by peers and camera trap records, we think it is
reasonable to select the natural reserves inhabited by North China
leopard as source patches (core areas), and it is also the best
available data on the distribution of North China leopard. Totally, we
identified 18 nature reserves (Fig. 2) and used as core areas to analyze
landscape connectivity. Data on nature reserves are downloaded from the
National Earth System Science Data Center (http://www.geodata.cn). At
the same time, we also consulted experts from the Chinese Felid
Conservation Alliance, personnel and residents in the reserves, who are
familiar with the current status of the North China leopard population
in this region, so as to improve the reliability of the information
collected.