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.