The Recolonisation of the Piketberg Leopard Population: A Model for Human–Wildlife Coexistence in a Changing Landscape

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The authors discuss the recolonization of the Piketberg region by Panthera pardus. 

The article is very clear and well written. I have few comments to make:

- The study area is subject to ecotourism. Does it have any special protection status?

- Do you have any idea of the importance of potential prey? 

- In the discussion, you don't address the origin of these leopards: increase from a residual population or from another region, and which, if any?

- Is this a general phenomenon in the Western Cape? Because there is information on this subject in many places. 

In point 4.1 Drivers: is there also a training/information effect on local populations to reconsider the leopard's presence as more "beneficial" than "toxic"?

Figure 1: in the black and white photo, the black dots are not visible. 

 

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

Thank you very much for providing comments and suggestion to the manuscript. We have addressed each of these and trust that they align with your expectations. Kindly note that our line numbers refer to the manuscript when viewed with track changes visible i.e. ‘All markup’.

 

Reviewer 1

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The authors discuss the recolonization of the Piketberg region by Panthera pardus. 

The article is very clear and well written. I have few comments to make:

- The study area is subject to ecotourism. Does it have any special protection status?

The Piketberg does not host any formally protected areas, rather it has a matrix of different land uses falling within the private sector. We have added this detail in line 118 – 119.

- Do you have any idea of the importance of potential prey? 

We did test the Relative Abundance Index (RAI) of prey to leopard detection and encounter rates. Please see lines 222 – 229, and the results of strong correlations are displayed in table 2. Prey RAI did not appear to have a strong correlation in any of the models. 

- In the discussion, you don't address the origin of these leopards: increase from a residual population or from another region, and which, if any?

We have added to lines 109 in the study area, and lines 340 – 341, and 407-411 to describe the source of recolonising leopards.

- Is this a general phenomenon in the Western Cape? Because there is information on this subject in many places. 

We believe it to be a general phenomenon, key to many wildlife populations. However, this is the first recorded recolonisation for leopards in the Western Cape. We discuss this in lines 458 – 477.

In point 4.1 Drivers: is there also a training/information effect on local populations to reconsider the leopard's presence as more "beneficial" than "toxic"?

Indeed, we consider this briefly in this section and identify this change in paradigm to contribute to why this population was able to recolonize. Please see lines 420 – 424; 453 – 456.

Figure 1: in the black and white photo, the black dots are not visible. 

Thank you. The yellow and white dots appear on the black and white print out.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Recovering and recolonization of wildlife populations is a key element in population ecology. In the past decades, the implications of population dynamics have become widely recognized across population biology. I suppose, the contribution is important and non-trivial.

This paper could be good in all respects. However, language should be improved. Authors must use specific terms of wildlife ecology. References and in-text citations do not match with the requirements of MDPI journals, it is wrong format. Text is presented with some breaks (typos?) (page 7, lines 271-275). Statistical symbols should be italicized

Moderate revision is needed

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Comments on the Quality of English Language

Moderate editing of English language required

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

Thank you for your helpful inputs and comments. We have addressed these and hope these are to your satisfaction. 

Reviewer 2 Comments:

Recovering and recolonization of wildlife populations is a key element in population ecology. In the past decades, the implications of population dynamics have become widely recognized across population biology. I suppose, the contribution is important and non-trivial.

This paper could be good in all respects. However, language should be improved. Authors must use specific terms of wildlife ecology. References and in-text citations do not match with the requirements of MDPI journals, it is wrong format. Text is presented with some breaks (typos?) (page 7, lines 271-275). Statistical symbols should be italicized.

Moderate revision is needed.

We have edited the document throughout to improve language and terminology. All changes are in track changes for ease of reference.

We have corrected the typos.       

The reference format has been updated and corrected.

Thank you very much.