Quantifying the distribution and size of home ranges is critical for understanding animal spatial dynamics. This is particularly important for large carnivores in fragmented landscapes. Most studies that estimate home range consider only a bivariate frequency distribution represented by a two‐dimensional planimetric surface. The underlying assumption of these approaches is that the animals inhabit landscapes that are completely flat. Of course, this is rarely the case. Here we investigated the influence of vertical relief and three‐dimensional landscape features on the home range patterns of a high density carnivore. Via GPS telemetry‐tracking of a population of Persian leopards Panthera pardus saxicolor (n = 6), and globally‐available digital elevation models (DEMs), we calculated the surface area of home ranges in comparison to traditional planimetric estimates. We also investigated predation patterns of leopards across elevation gradients using GPS location data and kill site analysis. The topographic measurements exceeded planimetric estimates by up to 38% which suggests that planimetric modeling underestimates home range size, particularly when animals inhabit variable terrain. We also observed that resident leopards exhibit significant altitudinal partitioning of predation, suggesting that leopards that have overlapping home ranges may still utilize exclusive hunting territories. We discuss the ways in which planimetric approaches may be underestimating aspects of animal ranging behavior and ecology. We conclude that topography should be considered, not as an ancillary metric, but as an important aspect of home range calculation. Our approach can enhance understanding of spatial requirements, population density, intra‐guild sympatric competition and conflict management of large felids inhabiting rugged landscapes.

中文翻译：

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垂直起伏有利于高密度食肉动物种群的空间隔离

量化家庭范围的分布和大小对于了解动物的空间动态至关重要。这对于零散景观中的大型食肉动物尤其重要。大多数估计住宅范围的研究仅考虑二维平面表示的双变量频率分布。这些方法的基本假设是动物栖息在完全平坦的景观中。当然，这种情况很少发生。在这里，我们研究了垂直浮雕和三维景观特征对高密度食肉动物的家庭范围格局的影响。通过GPS遥测技术跟踪波斯豹种群的虎豹（n = 6）和全球可用的数字高程模型（DEM），我们与传统的平面估算相比，计算了住宅范围的表面积。我们还使用GPS位置数据调查了豹子在海拔梯度上的捕食模式，并进行了杀害点分析。地形测量结果超出了平面估算值的范围，最多增加了38％，这表明，平面建模会低估房屋范围的大小，尤其是当动物居住在变化的地形中时。我们还观察到，常驻豹子表现出明显的纵向掠夺性划分，这表明具有重叠家园范围的豹子可能仍会利用专属狩猎区。我们讨论了平面方法可能低估动物测距行为和生态方面的方式。我们得出的结论是，地形不应被视为辅助度量，而应被视为房屋范围计算的重要方面。我们的方法可以增进对居住在崎landscape景观中的大型猫科动物的空间需求，人口密度，同业同胞竞争和冲突管理的理解。