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

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Abstract

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.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s12898-018-0199-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Most cited references 51

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Estimating animal population density using passive acoustics

Tiago Marques, Len Thomas, Stephen W. Martin … (2012)

Reliable estimation of the size or density of wild animal populations is very important for effective wildlife management, conservation and ecology. Currently, the most widely used methods for obtaining such estimates involve either sighting animals from transect lines or some form of capture-recapture on marked or uniquely identifiable individuals. However, many species are difficult to sight, and cannot be easily marked or recaptured. Some of these species produce readily identifiable sounds, providing an opportunity to use passive acoustic data to estimate animal density. In addition, even for species for which other visually based methods are feasible, passive acoustic methods offer the potential for greater detection ranges in some environments (e.g. underwater or in dense forest), and hence potentially better precision. Automated data collection means that surveys can take place at times and in places where it would be too expensive or dangerous to send human observers. Here, we present an overview of animal density estimation using passive acoustic data, a relatively new and fast-developing field. We review the types of data and methodological approaches currently available to researchers and we provide a framework for acoustics-based density estimation, illustrated with examples from real-world case studies. We mention moving sensor platforms (e.g. towed acoustics), but then focus on methods involving sensors at fixed locations, particularly hydrophones to survey marine mammals, as acoustic-based density estimation research to date has been concentrated in this area. Primary among these are methods based on distance sampling and spatially explicit capture-recapture. The methods are also applicable to other aquatic and terrestrial sound-producing taxa. We conclude that, despite being in its infancy, density estimation based on passive acoustic data likely will become an important method for surveying a number of diverse taxa, such as sea mammals, fish, birds, amphibians, and insects, especially in situations where inferences are required over long periods of time. There is considerable work ahead, with several potentially fruitful research areas, including the development of (i) hardware and software for data acquisition, (ii) efficient, calibrated, automated detection and classification systems, and (iii) statistical approaches optimized for this application. Further, survey design will need to be developed, and research is needed on the acoustic behaviour of target species. Fundamental research on vocalization rates and group sizes, and the relation between these and other factors such as season or behaviour state, is critical. Evaluation of the methods under known density scenarios will be important for empirically validating the approaches presented here.

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Environmental variation and rivers govern the structure of chimpanzee genetic diversity in a biodiversity hotspot

Matthew W. Mitchell, Sabrina Locatelli, Paul Sesink Clee … (2015)

Background The mechanisms that underlie the diversification of tropical animals remain poorly understood, but new approaches that combine geo-spatial modeling with spatially explicit genetic data are providing fresh insights on this topic. Data about the diversification of tropical mammals remain particularly sparse, and vanishingly few opportunities exist to study endangered large mammals that increasingly exist only in isolated pockets. The chimpanzees of Cameroon represent a unique opportunity to examine the mechanisms that promote genetic differentiation in tropical mammals because the region is home to two chimpanzee subspecies: Pan troglodytes ellioti and P. t. trogolodytes. Their ranges converge in central Cameroon, which is a geographically, climatically and environmentally complex region that presents an unparalleled opportunity to examine the roles of rivers and/or environmental variation in influencing the evolution of chimpanzee populations. Results We analyzed microsatellite genotypes and mtDNA HVRI sequencing data from wild chimpanzees sampled at a fine geographic scale across Cameroon and eastern Nigeria using a spatially explicit approach based upon Generalized Dissimilarity Modeling. Both the Sanaga River and environmental variation were found to contribute to driving separation of the subspecies. The importance of environmental variation differed among subspecies. Gene-environment associations were weak in P. t. troglodytes, whereas environmental variation was found to play a much larger role in shaping patterns of genetic differentiation in P. t. ellioti. Conclusions We found that both the Sanaga River and environmental variation likely play a role in shaping patterns of chimpanzee genetic diversity. Future studies using single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data are necessary to further understand how rivers and environmental variation contribute to shaping patterns of genetic variation in chimpanzees. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12862-014-0274-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Spatial models for line transect sampling

Sharon Hedley, Stephen Buckland (2004)

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Author and article information

Contributors

Serge Alexis Kamgang:

ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5422-7794

+237 678611375 , sergekamgang@gmail.com

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): BMC Ecol

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): BMC Ecol

Title: BMC Ecology

Publisher: BioMed Central (London )

ISSN (Electronic): 1472-6785

Publication date (Electronic): 1 October 2018

Publication date PMC-release: 1 October 2018

Publication date Collection: 2018

Volume: 18

Electronic Location Identifier: 40

Affiliations

[1 ]Garoua Wildlife School, Face aéroport international de Garoua, P.O. Box 271, Garoua, Cameroon

[2 ]ISNI 0000 0001 0657 2358, GRID grid.8201.b, Department of Forestry, Faculty of Agronomy and Agricultural Sciences, , University of Dschang, ; P.O. Box 222, Dschang, Cameroon

[3 ]ISNI 0000 0001 2164 6888, GRID grid.269823.4, Global Conservation Program, , Wildlife Conservation Society, ; 2300 Southern Boulevard, Bronx, New York, NY 10460 USA

[4 ]ISNI 0000 0001 2248 4331, GRID grid.11918.30, Faculty of Natural Sciences, , University of Stirling, ; Stirling, FK9 4LA Scotland UK

[5 ]Cameroon Biodiversity Programme, Wildlife Conservation Society, P.O. Box 3035, Yaoundé, Cameroon

[6 ]Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife, Yaounde, Cameroon

[7 ]ISNI 0000 0001 2181 3113, GRID grid.166341.7, Department of Biology, , Drexel University, ; Philadelphia, PA 19104 USA

[8 ]ISNI 0000 0004 1936 8948, GRID grid.4991.5, Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, , University of Oxford, Recanati-Kaplan Centre, ; Tubney, Oxford UK

[9 ]ISNI 0000 0001 0382 0205, GRID grid.412037.3, Laboratory of Applied Ecology, Faculty of Agronomic Sciences, , University of Abomey-Calavi, ; 01 P.O.Box 526, Cotonou, Benin

Author information

Serge Alexis Kamgang http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5422-7794

Article

Publisher ID: 199

DOI: 10.1186/s12898-018-0199-3

PMC ID: 6167774

PubMed ID: 30285707

SO-VID: c11f919a-6953-4c98-a3c3-8c2b3c1ddfe6

License:

Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver ( http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.

History

Date received : 10 May 2018

Date accepted : 26 September 2018

Funding

Funded by: WWf Russel E.Train education Nature

Award ID: ST68

Award Recipient : Serge Alexis Kamgang

Funded by: FundRef http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100007463, Rufford Foundation;

Award ID: 13184_1

Award ID: 20258_2

Award Recipient : Serge Alexis Kamgang

Custom metadata

ScienceOpen disciplines: Ecology

Keywords: great apes,mbam-djerem national park,pan troglodytes ellioti,habitat variation,nest abundance,distance sampling

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ScienceOpen disciplines: Ecology

Keywords: great apes, mbam-djerem national park, pan troglodytes ellioti, habitat variation, nest abundance, distance sampling

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

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Behavioral Ecology of Fishes

Most cited references 51

Estimating animal population density using passive acoustics

Environmental variation and rivers govern the structure of chimpanzee genetic diversity in a biodiversity hotspot

Spatial models for line transect sampling

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