Matthew Scott Luskin
(School of the Environment University of Queensland Brisbane Queensland Australia)
Lindsey Arnold
(School of the Environment University of Queensland Brisbane Queensland Australia)
Adia Sovie
(Department of Fisheries and Wildlife Michigan State University East Lansing Michigan USA)
Zachary Amir
(School of the Environment University of Queensland Brisbane Queensland Australia)
Marcus Aik Hwee Chua
(Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum National University of Singapore Singapore Singapore)
Bastien Dehaudt
(School of the Environment University of Queensland Brisbane Queensland Australia)
Ashlea Dunn
(School of the Environment University of Queensland Brisbane Queensland Australia)
Ilyas Nursamsi
(School of the Environment University of Queensland Brisbane Queensland Australia)
Jonathan H. Moore
(School of Environmental Science and Engineering Southern University of Science and Technology Shenzhen China)
Calebe P. Mendes
(Asian School of the Environment Nanyang Technological University Singapore Singapore)
Abstract Fragments and edges account for most remaining forest habitats globally. Apex predators and megaherbivores often decline in these degraded habitats while smaller generalist omnivores can persist or thrive in forest edges, especially if they can utilize nonnative resources (“cross‐boundary food subsidies”). Outcomes for small‐medium carnivores (mesopredators) remain unclear or idiosyncratic. We tested responses of a widespread and common forest mesopredator to edges and the composition of the adjacent nonforested areas using 91 camera trapping surveys in Southeast Asia. Leopard cats (Prionailurus bengalensis and Prionailurus javanensis) showed a hump‐shaped relationship with forest cover and a positive association with oil palm plantations, but they did not increase near other types of nonnative land cover. Leopard cats' success in edges appears due to their hunting abundant rodent prey inside oil palm plantations, providing natural pest management for farmers. Abundant leopard cats also hunt and suppress native small vertebrates, which may trigger negative ecological cascades and suppress biodiversity in forest edges.