biostudies-literatureUnknown11Greyling EFord Wildlife FoundationRolf Stephan Nussbaum FoundationABAX InvestmentsHans Hoheisen Charitable TrustBushmans Kloof Wilderness ReserveLomas Wildlife Protection TrustApex predators ideally require vast intact spaces that support sufficient prey abundances to sustain them. In a developing world, however, it is becoming extremely difficult to maintain large enough areas to facilitate apex predators outside of protected regions. Free-roaming leopards (<i>Panthera pardus</i>) are the last remaining apex predator in the Greater Cape Floristic Region, South Africa, and face a multitude of threats attributable to competition for space and resources with humans. Using camera-trap data, we investigated the influence of anthropogenic land modification on leopards and the availability of their natural prey species in two contrasting communities-primarily protected (Cederberg) and agriculturally transformed (Piketberg). Potential prey species composition and diverPeerJe14575https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC9884037biostudies-literatureFacilitation of a free-roaming apex predator in working lands: evaluating factors that influence leopard spatial dynamics and prey availability in a South African biodiversity hotspot.PMC9884037Muller LCherry MIGreyling EComley JLeslie AJfalseFacilitation of a free-roaming apex predator in working lands: evaluating factors that influence leopard spatial dynamics and prey availability in a South African biodiversity hotspot.Apex predators ideally require vast intact spaces that support sufficient prey abundances to sustain them. In a developing world, however, it is becoming extremely difficult to maintain large enough areas to facilitate apex predators outside of protected regions. Free-roaming leopards (<i>Panthera pardus</i>) are the last remaining apex predator in the Greater Cape Floristic Region, South Africa, and face a multitude of threats attributable to competition for space and resources with humans. Using camera-trap data, we investigated the influence of anthropogenic land modification on leopards and the availability of their natural prey species in two contrasting communities-primarily protected (Cederberg) and agriculturally transformed (Piketberg). Potential prey species composition and diver2023-01-01T00:00:00Z20232026-05-10T06:40:23.295Z2024-12-03T23:00:24.454ZS-EPMC98840373671844010.7717/peerj.14575