Abstract Human land use and activity results in the loss of habitat and biodiversity, and alters how animals move through landscapes. Spatially explicit information on where animal movement is affected at large spatial scales is crucial for prioritizing conservation efforts. We evaluated landscape permeability to movement in two conservation priority landscapes in India, the Western Ghats (WG) and Central India (CI). Using an agent-based model we simulated movement and dispersal of five wide-ranging species in WG (elephant, gaur, leopard, sambar and sloth bear) and four in CI (gaur, leopard, sambar and sloth bear). For each species we compared movement in the presence and absence of land-use land-cover, infrastructure and human population to identify areas where movement is impeded and reduced due to high-resistance features; unrestricted due to relatively low-resistance features; and increased and channelled due to surrounding high-resistance areas. In both landscapes, median movement was reduced. Human land-use, human population and high linear infrastructure density contribute the highest to impeded movement for all species. Natural areas constitute only 20–55% and 50–70% of unrestricted, increased and channelled movement areas in WG and CI respectively. This suggests that a large percentage of the landscape crucial for maintaining movement is not completely permeable. Such areas are often neglected in conservation planning. Our spatially explicit results help identify and prioritize areas where restoration or mitigation should be planned to improve permeability to movement for large mammals. Our approach can be used for other landscapes where data on large mammal movement is lacking.

中文翻译：

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导航铺砌的天堂：评估印度两个优先保护景观中大型哺乳动物运动的景观渗透性

摘要 人类土地使用和活动导致栖息地和生物多样性的丧失，并改变动物在景观中的移动方式。在大空间尺度上动物运动受到影响的空间明确信息对于优先保护工作至关重要。我们评估了印度西高止山脉 (WG) 和印度中部 (CI) 的两个保护优先景观中的景观渗透性。使用基于代理的模型，我们模拟了 WG 中 5 种广泛物种（大象、野牛、豹、水鹿和懒熊）和 CI 中的四种（野牛、豹、水鹿和懒惰熊）的运动和扩散。对于每个物种，我们比较了存在和不存在土地利用土地覆盖、基础设施和人口的运动，以确定由于高阻力特征而阻碍和减少运动的区域；由于电阻相对较低的特性而不受限制；并且由于周围的高电阻区域而增加和引导。在这两个景观中，中位数运动都减少了。人类土地利用、人口和高线性基础设施密度对所有物种的移动受阻影响最大。自然区域分别仅占 WG 和 CI 中无限制、增加和通道运动区域的 20-55% 和 50-70%。这表明对维持运动至关重要的大部分景观并不是完全可渗透的。这些地区在保护规划中经常被忽视。我们的空间明确结果有助于确定和优先考虑应该计划恢复或缓解的区域，以提高大型哺乳动物的运动渗透性。