Habitat use and predicted range for the mainland clouded leopard Neofelis nebulosa in Peninsular Malaysia

Abstract Ongoing deforestation in Southeast Asia is leading to increased fragmentation and reduction of habitatfor the mainland clouded leopard( Neofelis nebulosa). Using the largest detection/non-detection camera trapsurvey dataset known for the species throughout its range, we investigated factors affecting clouded leopard habitatuse across Peninsular Malaysia. Habitatuse was modelled using fine scale covariates and recently developed analytical techniques to account for spatial autocorrelation. Clouded leopard habitatuse increased with increasing distance from water bodies, higher numbers of discontinuous core areas per unit area and higher elevation. In addition, clouded leopard habitatuse was higher in sites with higher average forest change values. After extrapolating the predicted habitatuse of clouded leopardsacross the whole of Peninsular Malaysia, we assessed the suitability of proposed ecological linkages, and identified other suitable forest patches not within the current Central Forest Spine. Our findings are valuable for land use planningand management, in particular, for determining the suitability of forest remnants to support populations of clouded leopardand predicting how this species will respond in human-dominated landscapes.