Habitat suitability and connectivity for clouded leopard Neofelis nebulosa in Northeast India

The expansion of human activities poses a grave threat to the survival of the vulnerable clouded leopard. Absence of localized India-centric information on the distribution and connectivity for clouded leopards presents an obstacle to the implementation of conservation measures. This study aims to model the habitat suitability and connectivity of the species within the Northeastern region of India. Habitat suitability of the species was modelled using MaxEnt. The corridor connectivity was modelled using core habitat area and resistance surface raster with least cost path analysis and circuit theory. Various metrics such as current centrality, pinch-points, and linkage quality were calculated. MaxEnt model predicted ~ 7% of the total North-Eastern landscape of India under highly suitable habitat for the species. Major factors identified were distance from the protected area, human population density, percent forest cover, and forest loss. This analysis resulted in 30 core habitats which were treated as nodes in connectivity analysis. These were connected through 64 potential linkages. Centrality analysis revealed that the linkage between core habitats 9-12 (Dehing Patkai and Fakim) was the highest. The cumulative pinch-point analysis revealed bottlenecks in corridors between Namdapha NP to Intanki NP in Assam and Fakim WLS in Nagaland. These areas are vital for sustaining the overall connectivity of the populations across the landscape. Further habitat degradation in and around the pinch-points could cause significant disruption.