Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) Indicate Mammalian Abundance Across Broad Spatial Scales
Abstrak
ABSTRACT Ongoing ecosystem change and biodiversity decline across the Afrotropics call for tools to monitor the state of biodiversity or ecosystem elements across extensive spatial and temporal scales. We assessed relationships in the co‐occurrence patterns between great apes and other medium to large‐bodied mammals to evaluate whether ape abundance serves as a proxy for mammal diversity across broad spatial scales. We used camera trap footage recorded at 22 research sites, each known to harbor a population of chimpanzees, and some additionally a population of gorillas, across 12 sub‐Saharan African countries. From ~350,000 1‐min camera trap videos recorded between 2010 and 2016, we estimated mammalian community metrics, including species richness, Shannon diversity, and mean animal mass. We then fitted Bayesian Regression Models to assess potential relationships between ape detection rates (as proxy for ape abundance) and these metrics. We included site‐level protection status, human footprint, and precipitation variance as control variables. We found that relationships between detection rates of great apes and other mammal species, as well as animal mass were largely positive. In contrast, relationships between ape detection rate and mammal species richness were less clear and differed according to site protection and human impact context. We found no clear association between ape detection rate and mammal diversity. Our findings suggest that chimpanzees hold potential as indicators of specific elements of mammalian communities, especially population‐level and composition‐related characteristics. Declines in chimpanzee populations may indicate associated declines of sympatric medium to large‐bodied mammal species and highlight the need for improved conservation interventions.Changes in chimpanzee abundance likely precede extirpation of sympatric mammals.
Topik & Kata Kunci
Penulis (45)
Paul K. Kazaba
Lars Kulik
Ghislain B. Beukou Choumbou
Christelle B. Douhin Tiémoko
Funmilayo L. Oni
Serge A. Kamgang
Stefanie Heinicke
Inza Koné
Samedi Jean Pierre Mucyo
Tenekwetche Sop
Christophe Boesch
Colleen Stephens
Anthony Agbor
Samuel Angedakin
Emma Bailey
Mattia Bessone
Charlotte Coupland
Tobias Deschner
Paula Dieguez
Anne‐Céline Granjon
Briana Harder
Josephine Head
Thurston Cleveland Hicks
Sorrel Jones
Parag Kadam
Ammie K. Kalan
Kevin E. Langergraber
Juan Lapuente
Kevin C. Lee
Laura K. Lynn
Nuria Maldonado
Maureen S. McCarthy
Amelia C. Meier
Lucy Jayne Ormsby
Alex Piel
Martha M. Robbins
Lilah Sciaky
Volker Sommer
Fiona A. Stewart
Jane Widness
Roman M. Wittig
Erin G. Wessling
Mimi Arandjelovic
Hjalmar Kühl
Yntze van derHoek
Akses Cepat
- Tahun Terbit
- 2025
- Sumber Database
- DOAJ
- DOI
- 10.1002/ece3.71000
- Akses
- Open Access ✓