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A systematic review of global publications on clouded leopard ( Neofelis nebulosa ): identifying the publication trends, research gaps, and future directions to strengthen its conservation
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

A systematic review of global publications on clouded leopard ( Neofelis nebulosa ): identifying the publication trends, research gaps, and future directions to strengthen its conservation

Nikita Phuyal, Nishan Kc, Neeta Pokharel, Shreejan Gautam, Nitu Adhikari, Bijaya Dhami, Saurav Lamichhane, Mahamad Sayab Miya, Abhinaya Pathak and Bijaya Neupane
PeerJ (San Francisco, CA), Vol.13, e20421
2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.20421
PMID: 41438113
pdf
Published5.98 MBDownloadView
CC BY V4.0,  Open Access

Abstract

Animals Conservation of Natural Resources - methods Conservation of Natural Resources - trends Ecosystem Evidence Gaps Felidae Panthera
Background Despite global investment in studying, protecting, and managing carnivores, species like the clouded leopard Neofelis nebulosa (Griffith, 1821), renowned for its elusive nature, remain significantly understudied. There is also insufficient knowledge of clouded leopard research trends in spatial and temporal domains. Additionally, thematic areas of research on this species are not clearly known. This gap in information may hinder the development of effective strategies to address key conservation challenges such as habitat loss, poaching, and illegal trade. Methods To bridge these gaps, we systematically reviewed 123 peer-reviewed journal articles published up to December 2022, offering critical insights into the current state of knowledge and identifying future research priorities to inform conservation planning. Results The spatial analysis of clouded leopard research reveals that Thailand (n = 28) dominates the range countries, while the USA (n = 26) dominates non-range countries in terms of research efforts. Temporally, research output has shown a significant increase since 2006, peaking in 2016 (n = 13), with a positive trend in publications (Kendall’s tau = 0.52, P < 0.001). Most studies focused on anatomy and physiology in captive populations (n = 31) and habitat use and distribution in free-ranging populations (n = 23). The studies on the impact of climate change on the clouded leopard and its habitat, alongside feeding ecology, remain scant, necessitating the future research in these areas. Our analysis also revealed that the maximum number of publications employed diagnosis and treatment (26%), followed by camera trapping (24.4%). We recommend integrating local ecological knowledge and monitoring technologies to map the clouded leopard’s corridors, connectivity, and bottleneck sites at the landscape level. A higher number of publications addressed habitat loss and illegal trade as the primary threats to clouded leopard conservation. Effective law enforcement, proper land use, land cover planning, and community engagement are crucial for conserving this species. Moreover, clouded leopard range countries are recommended to develop sustainable financial mechanisms and implement the conservation action plan across the country, which can improve conservation outcomes.

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UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This output has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

#14 Life Below Water
#15 Life on Land

Source: InCites

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InCites Highlights

These are selected metrics from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool, related to this output

Collaboration types
Domestic collaboration
International collaboration
Citation topics
3 Agriculture, Environment & Ecology
3.35 Zoology & Animal Ecology
3.35.274 Wildlife Ecology
Web Of Science research areas
Ecology
ESI research areas
Environment/Ecology
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