The relationship between the abundance of the Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes ellioti) and its habitat: a conservation concern in Mbam-Djerem National Park, Cameroon.

Autor: Kamgang SA; Garoua Wildlife School, Face aéroport international de Garoua, P.O. Box 271, Garoua, Cameroon. sergekamgang@gmail.com.; Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife, Yaounde, Cameroon. sergekamgang@gmail.com.; Laboratory of Applied Ecology, Faculty of Agronomic Sciences, University of Abomey-Calavi, 01 P.O.Box 526, Cotonou, Benin. sergekamgang@gmail.com., Bobo KS; Department of Forestry, Faculty of Agronomy and Agricultural Sciences, University of Dschang, P.O. Box 222, Dschang, Cameroon., Maisels F; Global Conservation Program, Wildlife Conservation Society, 2300 Southern Boulevard, Bronx, New York, NY, 10460, USA.; Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling, FK9 4LA, Scotland, UK., Ambahe RDD; Cameroon Biodiversity Programme, Wildlife Conservation Society, P.O. Box 3035, Yaoundé, Cameroon., Ambassa Ongono DE; Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife, Yaounde, Cameroon., Gonder MK; Department of Biology, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA., Johnson P; Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Recanati-Kaplan Centre, Tubney, Oxford, UK., Marino J; Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Recanati-Kaplan Centre, Tubney, Oxford, UK., Sinsin B; Laboratory of Applied Ecology, Faculty of Agronomic Sciences, University of Abomey-Calavi, 01 P.O.Box 526, Cotonou, Benin.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: BMC ecology [BMC Ecol] 2018 Oct 01; Vol. 18 (1), pp. 40. Date of Electronic Publication: 2018 Oct 01.
DOI: 10.1186/s12898-018-0199-3
Abstrakt: Background: Understanding the relationship between great apes and their habitat is essential for the development of successful conservation strategies. The chimpanzee Pan troglodytes ellioti is endemic to Nigeria and Cameroon, and occupies an ecologically diverse range of habitats from forests to forest-savannah mosaic in Mbam-Djerem National Park (MDNP) in Cameroon. The habitat variation in chimpanzees is poorly understood in MDNP which provides an excellent opportunity to assess ecological factors that shape the abundance and distribution patterns of P. t. ellioti over a small geographic scale.
Results: We counted 249 nests along 132 km of transects in total. Of these, 119 nests along 68 km occurred in dense forest and 130 nests along 64 km in forest-savannah mosaic. Chimpanzee density was 0.88 [95% CI (0.55-1.41)] individuals/km 2 in the dense forest and 0.59 [95% CI (0.19-1.76)] in the forest-savannah mosaic. Nest abundance varied with vegetation type and was higher in areas with dense canopy cover, steeper slopes and relatively higher altitudes.
Conclusions: Our estimates of chimpanzee densities were lower than reported in other studied populations in the range of the Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzee. However, we found that habitat features, slope and altitude likely play a role in shaping patterns of chimpanzee nesting ecology. Further studies need to be focused on nest decay rates and phenology of useful plants in order to model chimpanzee abundance and distribution in Mbam-Djerem National Park.
Databáze: MEDLINE
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