Factors influencing wild chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes verus) relative abundance in an agriculture-swamp matrix outside protected areas
Garriga Anguera, Rosa M (Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary)
Marco, Ignasi (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Servei d'Ecopatologia de Fauna Salvatge)
Casas Díaz, Encarna (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Sanitat i d'Anatomia Animals)
Acevedo, Pelayo. (Instituto de Investigación en Recursos Cinegéticos)
Amarasekaran, B. (Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary)
Cuadrado, L. (Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology. School of Anthropology and Conservation. University of Kent)
Humle, Tatyana (Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology. School of Anthropology and Conservation. University of Kent)

Data:	2019
Resum:	Human population growth and anthropogenic activities are exacerbating pressures on biodiversity globally. Land conversion is aggravating habitat fragmentation and non-human primates are increasingly compelled to live in forest-agricultural mosaics. In Sierra Leone, more than half of the wild chimpanzee population (Pan troglodytes verus) occurs outside protected areas and competes for resources with farmers. Our study area, in the Moyamba district in south-western Sierra Leone, is practically devoid of forest and is dominated by cultivated and fallow fields, swamps and mangroves. In this region, traditional slash-and-burn agriculture modifies annually the landscape, sparing swamps and mangroves and semi-domesticated oil palms (Elaeis guineensis). This study aimed to explore ecological and anthropogenic factors influencing chimpanzee relative abundance across this highly degraded and human-impacted landscape. Between 2015 and 2016, we deployed 24 camera traps systematically across 27 1. 25x1. 25 km grid cells. Cameras were operational over a period of 8 months. We used binomial iCAR models to examine to what extent anthropogenic (roads, settlements, abandoned settlements and human presence) and habitat variables (swamps, farmland and mangroves) shape chimpanzee relative abundance. The best model explained 43. 16% of the variation with distance to roads and swamps emerging as the best predictors of chimpanzee relative abundance. Our results suggest that chimpanzees avoid roads and prefer to maintain proximity to swamps. There was no significant effect of settlements, abandoned settlements, mangroves or human presence. It appears that chimpanzees do not avoid areas frequented by people; although, our findings suggest temporal avoidance between the two species. We highlight the importance of studying chimpanzee populations living in anthropogenic habitats like agricultural-swamp matrixes to better understand factors influencing their distribution and inform conservation planning outside protected areas.
Ajuts:	Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad RYC-2012-11970
Nota:	This study was funded by a grant from the Arcus Foundation No. G-PGM-1508-1368 to TH; PA was supported by the MINECO and the Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha (UCLM) through a 'Ramón y Cajal' contract (RYC-2012-11970), and Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary provided logistical support. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. We are grateful to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security of the Sierra Leone Government for granting us permission to conduct this research. This work would not have been possible without the collaboration of the people in the study communities. We also thank the outreach and management teams at the Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary, in particular David Momoh, Joseph Marah, Konkofa Marah, Yirah Koroma, Bockarie Kanneh and Natalia Casado, for their assistance in the field. We are also extremely grateful to Dr. Raj Amin, Institute of Zoology in London, for providing the camera trap analysis software and to Jasper Gilardi for his help with processing camera trap images. Finally, we would also like to thank the two anonymous reviewers who provided useful suggestions for improving the quality of this manuscript.
Drets:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Llengua:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Matèria:	Animals ; Conservation of Natural Resources ; Farms ; Human Activities ; Humans ; Pan troglodytes ; Population Growth ; Sierra Leone ; Video Recording ; Wetlands
Publicat a:	PloS one, Vol. 14 Núm. 5 (may 2019) , p. 1, ISSN 1932-6203

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0215545
PMID: 31095574

16 p, 2.0 MB

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