Our new #OA #secr paper out in @MammBiol exploring density of a small population of leopards using multi‑session photographic‐sampling
.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s42991-020-00096-w
.
#Thread
.
@OxfordBiology @oxmartinschool @alexbraczkowski @PeymamM

1/ West Asian drylands host small populations of leopards, limited generally to areas with low primary productivity.
.
There is no data on temporal changes of leopard size in the region

2/ We therefore applied the #SECR methodology based on photographic detections in a mountainous environment surrounded by deserts in central Iran.
.
It was one of the driest known study sites of the species global distribution, with an average annual precipitation of 70 mm.

3/ In 6724 trap nights, 8 (2012) and 5 (2016) adult leopards detected

Density (individuals/100 km2)?
2012: 1.6 (CI = 0.9–2.9)
2016: 1.0 (CI = 0.6–1.6)

Our paper along with other sparse data in arid regions, showed some of the lowest densities across leopard global range

4/
Spatial scale: male = 1.6 X females

Spatial scale for both sexes: winter = 1.5 X summer

i.e. larger movements for males, and during winter.

5/ Few Hs discussed for density patterns between 2012-2016

H1: Prey? No evidence of prey reduction

H2: HWC? only 7% leopard diet was livestock, so no evidence for serious HWC

6/
H3: Poaching? Although single dead leopard found, but poaching might happen “elusively”, because only one individual was common between sampling

H4: sampling variation in statistic from sample to sample (overlapping CIs)

And the sad news: the study area was known for Asiatic cheetahs

The number of cheetah detections was:

2012: 3
.
2016: 0

Cheetah photo: @IranianCheetah