Abstract
Kaeng Krachan Forest Complex (KKFC) is a World Natural Heritage Site located in Thailand’s Tenasserim Mountain Range, a top global priority landscape for large carnivore conservation and one of the last strongholds for Indochinese leopards (Panthera pardus delacouri), a wild felid that has lost over 90% of its historical range. The current study identified key areas in KKFC where leopard occurred in relation to environmental features and human pressures via a landscape-scale species occupancy survey. Density estimates confirmed that a key leopard population in the core area of KKFC has remained stable at 2.8-3.8 leopards/100 km2 over the last two decades with a proportion of melanistic individuals estimated via spatial capture- recapture and spatial mark-resight analyses at ca. 30%. Prey densities estimated by camera trap distance sampling and converted to biomass suggested that the KKFC core area contained adequate prey to support the current leopard population but large prey outside the core area occurred at much lower abundance and reduced biomass. This study revealed that human activities negatively influence space use by both leopards and their prey. To safeguard and ensure the persistence of the Indochinese leopard population in the KKFC, all protected areas must be managed under the same strategic plan following an ecosystem-based approach, effective law enforcement must be a priority in the core area of KKFC, and the livelihoods of people who live inside and along the border of the protected areas must be improved to reduce their dependency on wild meat. In addition, the government should invest in long-term monitoring to evaluate the effectiveness of all interventions and generate reliable information required for adaptive management of this Indochinese leopard population.