Mapping suitable great ape habitat in and around the Lobéké National Park, South‐East Cameroon

Abstract

As a result of extensive data collection efforts over the last 20–30 years, there is quite a good understanding of the large‐scale geographic distribution and range limits of African great apes. However, as human activities increasingly fragment great ape spatial distribution, a better understanding of what constitutes suitable great ape habitat is needed to inform conservation and resource extraction management. Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes troglodytes) and gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) inhabit the Lobéké National Park and its surrounding forest management units (FMUs) in South‐East Cameroon. Both park and neighboring forestry concessions require reliable evidence on key factors driving great ape distribution for their management plans, yet this information is largely missing and incomplete. This study aimed at mapping great ape habitat suitability in the area and at identifying the most influential predictors among three predictor categories, including landscape predictors (dense forest, swampy forest, distance to water bodies, and topography), human disturbance predictors (hunting, deforestation, distance to roads, and population density), and bioclimatic predictor (annual precipitation). We found that about 63% of highly to moderately suitable chimpanzee habitat occurred within the Lobéké National Park, while only 8.4% of similar habitat conditions occurred within FMUs. For gorillas, highly and moderately suitable habitats occurred within the Lobéké National Park and its surrounding FMUs (82.6% and 65.5%, respectively). Key determinants of suitable chimpanzee habitat were hunting pressure and dense forest, with species occurrence probability optimal at relatively lower hunting rates and at relatively high‐dense forest areas. Key determinants of suitable gorilla habitat were hunting pressure, dense forests, swampy forests, and slope, with species occurrence probability optimal at relatively high‐dense and swampy forest areas and at areas with mild slopes. Our findings show differential response of the two ape species to forestry activities in the study area, thus aligning with previous studies.

Ecotourism Disturbance on an Endemic Endangered Primate in the Huangshan Man and the Biosphere Reserve of China: A Way to Move Forward

“…(3) Evaluation of habitat suitability spatiotemporal dynamics Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt) modeling was used to evaluate the spatiotemporal distribution dynamics of Tibetan macaques. This method allowed a larger-scale prediction of potential macaque distribution areas beyond the sampling areas with high predictive accuracy [15,34,37,[49][50][51]. The selection of prediction variables is based on previous studies of primate habitat suitability [37,39,40].…”

“…This method allowed a larger-scale prediction of potential macaque distribution areas beyond the sampling areas with high predictive accuracy [15,34,37,[49][50][51]. The selection of prediction variables is based on previous studies of primate habitat suitability [37,39,40].…”

“…To project and map the habitat suitability of Tibetan macaques, wide physical attributes were evaluated, in particular elevation, slope, aspect, water source, and forest cover were used [36,37]. The digital elevation model with 30 m resolution was downloaded from the science database of the Chinese Academy of Science (http://www.gscloud.cn/, accessed on 1 June 2022).…”

“…As most primates are forest-dependent, they will inevitably face many problems caused by long-term coexistence with humans [ 34 , 35 ]. For example, increased encounters with tourists, a decline in forest substrate resource quality, and reduced connectivity of foraging patches can lead to changes in foraging behavior, increased prevalence of disease, food competition, and stress [ 36 , 37 ]. All these factors pose a threat not only to primate conservation but also to regional economic development.…”

Ticks, Hair Loss, and Non-Clinging Babies: A Novel Tick-Based Hypothesis for the Evolutionary Divergence of Humans and Chimpanzees

“…Decreased social grooming time with hair loss in hominins and increased social grooming time with hair preservation in chimpanzees may therefore represent divergent evolutionary responses following the LCA’s terrestrial exposure to ticks. Notably, gorillas and François’ langurs ( Trachypithecus francoisi ) have low social grooming times (1.3% and 1.2%, respectively) despite living on the ground (gorillas inhabit tropical forests [ 222 ], and François’ langurs inhabit tropical limestone cliffs [ 223 ]). These data suggest that these primates may not be exposed to large numbers of ticks in their local environments or that they have evolved alternative non-grooming anti-tick strategies that are currently unknown.…”