Chimpanzees (<i>Pan troglodytes</i>) Indicate Mammalian Abundance Across Broad Spatial Scales

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.

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Publication Details

Journal
Ecology and Evolution
Published
2025-03-01
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.71000
Citations
1
Primary Topic
Primate Behavior and Ecology
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
2.44

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article

Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) Indicate Mammalian Abundance Across Broad Spatial Scales

Paul Kaseya Kazaba, Juan Lapuente, Erin G. Wessling, A. Piel et al.
1 citations
Ecology and Evolution
Primate Behavior and Ecology
2.44
article

Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) Indicate Mammalian Abundance Across Broad Spatial Scales

Paul Kaseya Kazaba, Juan Lapuente, Erin G. Wessling, A. Piel, Charlotte Coupland, Mimi Arandjelovic, Fiona A. Stewart, Laura K. Lynn, Tenekwetche Sop, Volker Sommer, Hjalmar S. Kühl, Nuria Maldonado, Maureen S. McCarthy, Roman M. Wittig, Lucy Jayne Ormsby, Jane Widness, Josephine S. Head, Kevin E. Langergraber, Mattia Bessone, Colleen Stephens, Briana Harder, Emma Bailey, Samuel Angedakin, Sorrel Jones, Ammie K. Kalan, Martha M. Robbins, Lilah Sciaky, Serge Alexis Kamgang, Amelia Meier, Parag Kadam, Anthony Agbor, Tobias Deschner, Inza Koné, Yntze van der Hoek, Anne‐Céline Granjon, Stefanie Heinicke, Paula Dieguez, Kevin Lee, Lars Kulik, Christophe Boesch, Thurston C. Hicks, Funmilayo L. Oni, Samedi Jean Pierre Mucyo, Ghislain B. Beukou Choumbou, Christelle B. Douhin Tiémoko
article en
1 citations

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.

Ecology and EvolutionVol. 15(3)
University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (US), International Gorilla Conservation Programme (RW), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR), University of Lubumbashi (CD), Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (GB), University of Georgia (US), Osnabrück University (DE), University of Konstanz (DE), University of Victoria (CA), University of Würzburg (DE), German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (DE), German Primate Center (DE), Leibniz Association (DE), Yale University (US), Gashaka Primate Project (NG), Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior (DE), Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (DE), Swiss Centre for Scientific Research (CI), WWF Cameroon (CM), Université Jean Lorougnon Guédé (CI), Senckenberg Museum für Naturkunde Görlitz (DE), International University Institute (IHI) Zittau (DE), Institut des Sciences Cognitives (FR), University College London (GB), Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (NG), University of Warsaw (PL), Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny (CI), Arizona State University (US), Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (DE), Liverpool John Moores University (GB), Makerere University (UG), Technische Universität Dresden (DE)
Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny, Robert Bosch Stiftung, Volkswagen Foundation, Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Deutsches Zentrum für integrative Biodiversitätsforschung Halle-Jena-Leipzig, University of California, San Diego
Life in Land
Openalex Percentile: Top 15%
Primate Behavior and Ecology
2.44
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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