Project summary
Human population growth and habitat degradation of the last decades has brought African great ape populations to the brink of extinction.
Areas where great apes are present are now rapidly turning into small and unconnected patches and are subject to continuous pressures,
while protection efforts are made often ineffective by country socio-economical status and armed conflicts, lack of funding, mismanagement or corruption.
On the basis of a record of surveys conducted in the last 50 years, this PhD study will contribute to identify what affects ape distribution and encounter rate in protected and non-protected areas across Africa, to clarify to which degree conservation efforts are successful and to suggest which actions could make ape conservation plans more effective.
Surveys datasets collected over the last decades will be extracted from the A.P.E.S. database. The main lines of investigation are:
The results will give a better understanding of great ape actual status and will help to evaluate and shape conservation strategies which could maximize protection benefit for African great apes.
For questions relating to this project, please contact Sandra Tranquilli at
sandra.tranquilli [at] eva.mpg.de
Project summary
Information on population status, rates of population change and factors influencing great
ape populations in different regions is key to informing and evaluating management decisions to ensure
their protection. However, despite considerable effort and resources devoted to the monitoring of
their populations over nearly 30 years relatively few data are currently available that allow for the
precise estimation of abundance and population trends by country or region.
How many apes are left in Africa? Where are the largest contiguous populations of gorillas or bonobos? How different are the threats of chimpanzees in DRC compared to Côte d’Ivoire, and which management strategies have been proven successful under certain circumstances? Well substantiated information to answer these and similar questions are urgently needed to develop coherent and integrative conservation strategies for African great apes.
We therefore propose to set up a near real-time Pan African ape population surveillance system, which serves as / or provides
We aim to combine well established existing sampling methods, such as line transect nest counts, with innovative camera trapping and audio monitoring technology. Data will be collected in 14 African range countries at a minimum of 80 sampling locations. Twelve teams will be trained in these survey methods to collect high-quality data in their regions. We will implement data collection over a five-year period in a stepwise fashion, starting in West Africa, followed by Central and East Africa, where we will coordinate sampling effort whenever possible with existing field projects.
For questions relating to this project, please contact Jessica Junker at
jessica_junker [at] eva.mpg.de
As an initiative of the Great Apes Survival Project (GRASP), the Primatology department at the
Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (MPI-EVA) and the Wild Chimpanzee Foundation (WCF) a
survey training workshop was held in Taï National Park, Côte d’Ivoire from the 20th February until 10th March 2009.
The aim of this workshop was to link and coordinate past, present and future survey efforts by creating a network of
conservation agencies, national environmental government agencies and local communities involved in survey work in the
different West African great ape range countries. Furthermore, with this workshop we hope to ensure high data quality
levels and the rapid processing of the data collected in the field, contribute to capacity building in the region through
practical and analytical training of national field staff and national wildlife biologists and provide essential
information for strategic conservation planning in the region.
Thirteen participants from five different West African countries (Côte d’Ivoire, Guinée, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone) were invited to attend the workshop. An additional three trainers (Jessica Junker, Germany MPI-EVA; Célestin Y. Kouakou and Paul K. N’Goran, Côte d’Ivoire, WCF) introduced the participants to basic statistical principles as well as spatial and trend analysis methods using sophisticated software programs such as Distance 5.0, ArcMap and Trends.exe. Furthermore, participants were taught the theory of distance sampling and the application of this method in the field (during field-based sessions in the Taï forest). Participants acquired valuable knowledge that will in future enable them to carefully plan a great ape survey, collect high quality information in the field, analyze their data and summarize and present their results in the form of a scientific report.
In addition, two other researchers, Geneviève Campbell and Sonja Metger from the
Taï Chimpanzee Project (TCP) led by Professor Christophe Boesch, gave lectures on the use
of camera traps and acoustic methods for the identification of chimpanzees as well as
aspects of veterinary studies in Taï chimpanzees and the methods of collection and storage
of organic samples from the forest.
Acknowledgements
All workshop participants expressed sincere gratitude and appreciation to GRASP for
financing and the MPI and WCF for organizing the workshop. The trainers also
express their appreciation to the officials of the Swiss Center for Scientific
Research, the Taï Chimpanzee Project and the Taï Monkey Project for facilitating
logistics in Taï National Park, the officials of the Center for Research in
Ecology for offering accommodation at the Ecological Research Station (la
Station de Recherche en Ecologie) in Taï National Park. Last, we would like to
thank the OIPR (l’Office Ivoirien des Parcs et Réserves) for their permission
to hold the workshop in Taï National Park and for providing park permits for
all participants free of charge.
For questions relating to the workshop and the PowerPoint presentations of the theory lectures,
please contact Jessica Junker at
jessica_junker[at]eva.mpg.de
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