Structural habitat predicts functional dispersal habitat of a large carnivore: how leopards change spots

Natal dispersal promotes inter‐population linkage, and is key to spatial distribution of populations. Degradation of suitable landscape structures beyond the specific threshold of an individual's ability to disperse can therefore lead to disruption of functional landscape connectivity and impact metapopulation function. Because it ignores behavioral responses of individuals, structural connectivity is easier to assess than functional connectivity and is often used as a surrogate for landscape connectivity modeling. However using structural resource selection models as surrogate for modeling functional connectivity through dispersal could be erroneous. We tested how well a second‐order resource selection function (RSF) models (structural connectivity), based on GPS telemetry data from resident adult leopard (Panthera pardus L.), could predict subadult habitat use during dispersal (functional connectivity). We created eight non‐exclusive subsets of the subadult data based on differing definitions of dispersal to assess the predictive ability of our adult‐based RSF model extrapolated over a broader landscape. Dispersing leopards used habitats in accordance with adult selection patterns, regardless of the definition of dispersal considered. We demonstrate that, for a wide‐ranging apex carnivore, functional connectivity through natal dispersal corresponds to structural connectivity as modeled by a second‐order RSF. Mapping of the adult‐based habitat classes provides direct visualization of the potential linkages between populations, without the need to model paths between a priori starting and destination points. The use of such landscape scale RSFs may provide insight into predicting suitable dispersal habitat peninsulas in human‐dominated landscapes where mitigation of human–wildlife conflict should be focused. We recommend the use of second‐order RSFs for landscape conservation planning and propose a similar approach to the conservation of other wide‐ranging large carnivore species where landscape‐scale resource selection data already exist.