Characteristics of Positive Deviants in Western Chimpanzee Populations

With continued expansion of anthropogenically modified landscapes, the proximity between humans and wildlife is continuing to increase, frequently resulting in species decline. Occasionally however, species are able to persist and there is an increased interest in understanding such positive outliers and underlying mechanisms. Eventually, such insights can inform the design of effective conservation interventions by mimicking aspects of the social-ecological conditions found in areas of species persistence. Recently, frameworks have been developed to study the heterogeneity of species persistence across populations with a focus on positive outliers. Applications are still rare, and to our knowledge this is one of the first studies using this approach for terrestrial species conservation. We applied the positive deviance concept to the western chimpanzee, which occurs in a variety of social-ecological landscapes. It is now categorized as Critically Endangered due to hunting and habitat loss and resulting excessive decline of most of its populations. Here we are interested in understanding why some of the populations did not decline. We compiled a dataset of 17,109 chimpanzee survey transects (10,929 km) across nine countries and linked them to a range of social and ecological variables. We found that chimpanzees seemed to persist within three social-ecological configurations: first, rainforest habitats with a low degree of human impact, second, steep areas, and third, areas with high prevalence of hunting taboos and low degree of human impact. The largest chimpanzee populations are nowadays found under the third social-ecological configuration, even though most of these areas are not officially protected. Most commonly chimpanzee conservation has been based on exclusion of threats by creation of protected areas and law enforcement. Our findings suggest, however, that this approach should be complemented by an additional focus on threat reduction, i.e., interventions that directly target individual human behavior that is most threatening to chimpanzees, which is hunting. Although changing human behavior is difficult, stakeholder co-designed behavioral change approaches developed in the social sciences have been used successfully to promote pro-environmental behavior. With only a fraction of chimpanzees and primates living inside protected areas, such new approaches might be a way forward to improve primate conservation

Advancing conservation planning for western chimpanzees using IUCN SSC A.P.E.S.-the case of a taxon-specific database

Even though information on global biodiversity trends becomes increasingly available, large taxonomic and spatial data gaps persist at the scale relevant to planning conservation interventions. This is because data collectors are hesitant to share datawith global repositories due toworkload, lack of incentives, and perceived risk of losing intellectual property rights. In contrast, due to greater conceptual and methodological proximity, taxon-specific database initiatives can provide more direct benefits to data collectors through research collaborations and shared authorship.TheIUCNSSC Ape Populations, Environments and Surveys (A.P.E.S.) database was created in 2005 as a repository for data on great apes and other primate taxa. It aims to acquire field survey data and make different types of data accessible, and provide up-to-date species status information. To support the current update of the conservation action plan forwestern chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) we compiled field surveys for this taxon from IUCNSSCA.P.E.S., 75%ofwhich were unpublished. We used spatial modeling to infer total population size, range-wide density distribution, population connectivity and landscape-scale metrics.Weestimated a total abundance of 52 800 (95%CI 17 577–96 564) western chimpanzees, of which only 17%occurred in national parks.We also found that 10%of chimpanzees live within 25 kmof fourmulti-national ‘development corridors’ currently planned forWestAfrica. These large infrastructure projects aim to promote economic integration and agriculture expansion, but are likely to cause further habitat loss and reduce population connectivity.We close by demonstrating the wealth of conservation-relevant information derivable from a taxon-specific database like IUCNSSC A.P.E.S. and propose that a network of many more such databases could be created to provide the essential information to conservation that can neither be supplied by one-off projects nor by global repositories, and thus are highly complementary to existing initiatives

Threat of mining to African great apes

The rapid growth of clean energy technologies is driving a rising demand for critical minerals. In 2022 at the 15th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15), seven major economies formed an alliance to enhance the sustainability of mining these essential decarbonization minerals. However, there is a scarcity of studies assessing the threat of mining to global biodiversity. By integrating a global mining dataset with great ape density distribution, we estimated the number of African great apes that spatially coincided with industrial mining projects. We show that up to one-third of Africa's great ape population faces mining-related risks. In West Africa in particular, numerous mining areas overlap with fragmented ape habitats, often in high-density ape regions. For 97% of mining areas, no ape survey data are available, underscoring the importance of increased accessibility to environmental data within the mining sector to facilitate research into the complex interactions between mining, climate, biodiversity, and sustainability

Quantitative estimates of glacial refugia for chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) since the Last Interglacial (120,000 BP)

Paleoclimate reconstructions have enhanced our understanding of how past climates have shaped present-day biodiversity. We hypothesize that the geographic extent of Pleistocene forest refugia and suitable habitat fluctuated significantly in time during the late Quaternary for chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Using bioclimatic variables representing monthly temperature and precipitation estimates, past human population density data, and an extensive database of georeferenced presence points, we built a model of changing habitat suitability for chimpanzees at fine spatio-temporal scales dating back to the Last Interglacial (120,000 BP). Our models cover a spatial resolution of 0.0467° (approximately 5.19 km2 grid cells) and a temporal resolution of between 1000 and 4000 years. Using our model, we mapped habitat stability over time using three approaches, comparing our modeled stability estimates to existing knowledge of Afrotropical refugia, as well as contemporary patterns of major keystone tropical food resources used by chimpanzees, figs (Moraceae), and palms (Arecacae). Results show habitat stability congruent with known glacial refugia across Africa, suggesting their extents may have been underestimated for chimpanzees, with potentially up to approximately 60,000 km2 of previously unrecognized glacial refugia. The refugia we highlight coincide with higher species richness for figs and palms. Our results provide spatio-temporally explicit insights into the role of refugia across the chimpanzee range, forming the empirical foundation for developing and testing hypotheses about behavioral, ecological, and genetic diversity with additional data. This methodology can be applied to other species and geographic areas when sufficient data are available.Additional co-authors: Alfred K. Assumang, Emma Bailey, Mattia Bessone, Bartelijntje Buys, Joana S. Carvalho, Rebecca Chancellor, Heather Cohen, Emmanuel Danquah, Tobias Deschner, Zacharie N. Dongmo, Osiris A. Doumbé, Jef Dupain, Chris S. Duvall, Manasseh Eno-Nku, Gilles Etoga, Anh Galat-Luong, Rosa Garriga, Sylvain Gatti, Andrea Ghiurghi, Annemarie Goedmakers, Anne-Céline Granjon, Dismas Hakizimana, Josephine Head, Daniela Hedwig, Ilka Herbinger, Veerle Hermans, Sorrel Jones, Jessica Junker, Parag Kadam, Mohamed Kambi, Ivonne Kienast, Célestin Y. Kouakou, Kouamé P. N′Goran, Kevin E. Langergraber, Juan Lapuente, Anne Laudisoit, Kevin C. Lee, Nadia Mirghani, Deborah Moore, David Morgan, Emily Neil, Sonia Nicholl, Louis Nkembi, Anne Ntongho, Christopher Orbell, Lucy Jayne Ormsby, Liliana Pacheco, Alex K. Piel, Lilian Pintea, Andrew J. Plumptre, Aaron Rundus, Crickette Sanz, Volker Sommer, Tenekwetche Sop, Fiona A. Stewart, Jacqueline Sunderland-Groves, Nikki Tagg, Angelique Todd, Els Ton, Joost van Schijndel, Hilde VanLeeuwe, Elleni Vendras, Adam Welsh, José F. C. Wenceslau, Erin G. Wessling, Jacob Willie, Roman M. Wittig, Nakashima Yoshihiro, Yisa Ginath Yuh, Kyle Yurkiw, Christophe Boesch, Mimi Arandjelovic, Hjalmar Küh

Predicting range shifts of African apes under global change scenarios

Aim: Modelling African great ape distribution has until now focused on current or past conditions, while future scenarios remain scarcely explored. Using an ensemble forecasting approach, we predicted changes in taxon-specific distribution under future scenarios of climate, land use and human populations for (1) areas outside protected areas (PAs) only (assuming complete management effectiveness of PAs), (2) the entire study region and (3) interspecies range overlap. Location: Tropical Africa. Methods: We compiled occurrence data (n = 5,203) on African apes from the IUCN A.P.E.S. database and extracted relevant climate-, habitat- and human-related predictors representing current and future (2050) conditions to predict taxon-specific range change under a best- and a worst-case scenario, using ensemble forecasting. Results: The predictive performance of the models varied across taxa. Synergistic interactions between predictors are shaping African ape distribution, particularly human-related variables. On average across taxa, a range decline of 50% is expected outside PAs under the best scenario if no dispersal occurs (61% in worst scenario). Otherwise, an 85% range reduction is predicted to occur across study regions (94% worst). However, range gains are predicted outside PAs if dispersal occurs (52% best, 21% worst), with a slight increase in gains expected across study regions (66% best, 24% worst). Moreover, more than half of range losses and gains are predicted to occur outside PAs where interspecific ranges overlap. Main Conclusions: Massive range decline is expected by 2050, but range gain is uncertain as African apes will not be able to occupy these new areas immediately due to their limited dispersal capacity, migration lag and ecological constraints. Given that most future range changes are predicted outside PAs, Africa\u27s current PA network is likely to be insufficient for preserving suitable habitats and maintaining connected ape populations. Thus, conservation planners urgently need to integrate land use planning and climate change mitigation measures at all decision-making levels both in range countries and abroad

Characteristics of Positive Deviants in Western Chimpanzee Populations

With continued expansion of anthropogenically modified landscapes, the proximity between humans and wildlife is continuing to increase, frequently resulting in species decline. Occasionally however, species are able to persist and there is an increased interest in understanding such positive outliers and underlying mechanisms. Eventually, such insights can inform the design of effective conservation interventions by mimicking aspects of the social-ecological conditions found in areas of species persistence. Recently, frameworks have been developed to study the heterogeneity of species persistence across populations with a focus on positive outliers. Applications are still rare, and to our knowledge this is one of the first studies using this approach for terrestrial species conservation. We applied the positive deviance concept to the western chimpanzee, which occurs in a variety of social-ecological landscapes. It is now categorized as Critically Endangered due to hunting and habitat loss and resulting excessive decline of most of its populations. Here we are interested in understanding why some of the populations did not decline. We compiled a dataset of 17,109 chimpanzee survey transects (10,929 km) across nine countries and linked them to a range of social and ecological variables. We found that chimpanzees seemed to persist within three social-ecological configurations: first, rainforest habitats with a low degree of human impact, second, steep areas, and third, areas with high prevalence of hunting taboos and low degree of human impact. The largest chimpanzee populations are nowadays found under the third social-ecological configuration, even though most of these areas are not officially protected. Most commonly chimpanzee conservation has been based on exclusion of threats by creation of protected areas and law enforcement. Our findings suggest, however, that this approach should be complemented by an additional focus on threat reduction, i.e., interventions that directly target individual human behavior that is most threatening to chimpanzees, which is hunting. Although changing human behavior is difficult, stakeholder co-designed behavioral change approaches developed in the social sciences have been used successfully to promote pro-environmental behavior. With only a fraction of chimpanzees and primates living inside protected areas, such new approaches might be a way forward to improve primate conservation

Quantitative estimates of glacial refugia for chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) since the Last Interglacial (120,000 BP).

Paleoclimate reconstructions have enhanced our understanding of how past climates have shaped present-day biodiversity. We hypothesize that the geographic extent of Pleistocene forest refugia and suitable habitat fluctuated significantly in time during the late Quaternary for chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Using bioclimatic variables representing monthly temperature and precipitation estimates, past human population density data, and an extensive database of georeferenced presence points, we built a model of changing habitat suitability for chimpanzees at fine spatio-temporal scales dating back to the Last Interglacial (120,000 BP). Our models cover a spatial resolution of 0.0467° (approximately 5.19 km2 grid cells) and a temporal resolution of between 1000 and 4000 years. Using our model, we mapped habitat stability over time using three approaches, comparing our modeled stability estimates to existing knowledge of Afrotropical refugia, as well as contemporary patterns of major keystone tropical food resources used by chimpanzees, figs (Moraceae), and palms (Arecacae). Results show habitat stability congruent with known glacial refugia across Africa, suggesting their extents may have been underestimated for chimpanzees, with potentially up to approximately 60,000 km2 of previously unrecognized glacial refugia. The refugia we highlight coincide with higher species richness for figs and palms. Our results provide spatio-temporally explicit insights into the role of refugia across the chimpanzee range, forming the empirical foundation for developing and testing hypotheses about behavioral, ecological, and genetic diversity with additional data. This methodology can be applied to other species and geographic areas when sufficient data are available

Changes in Fish Communities and Chimpanzee Ecology in the Bumbuna Hydroelectric Project Area Following Dam Impoundment

The Bumbuna Hydroelectric Dam was completed in 2009 and is located upstream of the Bumbuna Falls on the Seli River in Sierra Leone. Fish species diversity and composition in the river were assessed pre-impoundment (2006) from the estuary to the upper reaches of the river. Post-impoundment (2012) surveys focused on sites near the new dam. In 2006, we observed 81 species and 29 families over the longitudinal section of the river, with the greatest diversity observed in the open river reaches upstream of the estuary. There were clear discontinuities in species distributions and reduction in diversity upstream of Bumbuna Falls, a natural falls. Post-impoundment, we captured fewer species and families at the three sites nearest to the dam. Species richness and Shannon-Wiener and Jaccard’s diversity indices declined post-impoundment for the reservoir and sites immediately downstream of the dam. Whereas Cyprinidae was the dominant family pre-impoundment, Cichlidae dominated the reservoir after impoundment (e.g., Tilapia joka and T. louka). Construction of the dam near Bambuma Falls may have mitigated overall effects of impoundment. While downstream species diversity remained unchanged, species composition shifted to cichlids. Effects of this and other dams are complex and are not fully characterized by diversity metrics. The Bumbuna Hydroelectric Project Area is a mosaic of forest patches, savanna, riparian forest and agricultural lands with high prevalence of palm trees (Elaeis guinensis). Chimpanzee surveys and population estimates were conducted in 2006 using nest clusters and reconnaissance (recces) surveys to identify group size and follow chimpanzees. In 2013, we used nest observations with a traditional line transect method and distance sampling to estimate and compare the 2006 recce and estimates to the 2013 distance estimates. We calculated the density of chimpanzees to be 0.10 individuals/km2 (CV=63%; 95% CI=0.031-0.33), with a population of 6 individuals (CV=57%; 95% CI=2-17). The pre- (9; range 9-14) and post-impoundment (2; 2-17) BCA community estimates are similar for the different approaches. The majority of nest clusters were individual nests, and the largest nest cluster was 16. Most nests were in clusters of two and six nests. The majority of nests occurred on fruiting tree species. Chimpanzees consumed the pith and fruits of Elaies guineensis and Ficus spp. throughout the study period

Mediacal Assisting : A Patient-Centered Approach to Administrative and Clinical Competencies

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Medical assisting : A patient-centered approach to administrative and clinical competencies

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