Cantanhez National Park in southern Guinea-Bissau is a mosaic of forest, mangrove, savanna, and agricultural fields, with a high prevalence of oil-palm trees (Elaeis guineensis). It hosts many different animal species, including the chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes verus). Very little is known about the ecology of chimpanzees inhabiting this area. The main aims of this study were to evaluate chimpanzee nesting behavior, define trends of habitat use, and estimate chimpanzee density in four separate forests by applying the marked nest counts methodology. From the 287 new nests counted, 92% were built in oil-palm trees with a significantly higher frequency of nests in the forest edge than in forest cores. Differences in nest detection rates were observed in the four monitored forests, with two forests being more important for chimpanzee's nesting demands. The number of nests documented in the forests seemed to be correlated with the frequency of other signs of chimpanzee activity. Although chimpanzees selected nests on the forest edge, they were most frequently observed in forest core areas. Constraints associated with estimating chimpanzee density through oil-palm nest counting are discussed.
Recent guidelines from the World Health Organization emphasize the need to monitor the social determinants of health, with particular focus on the most vulnerable groups. With this in mind, we evaluated the access, use and perceived quality of care received by migrant women during pregnancy and early motherhood, in a large urban area in northern Portugal. We performed semi-structured interviews in 25 recent mothers, contacted through welfare institutions, who had immigrated from Eastern European countries, Brazil, or Portuguese-speaking African countries. Six native-Portuguese women of equal economic status were also interviewed for comparison. Misinformation about legal rights and inadequate clarification during medical appointments frequently interacted with social determinants, such as low social-economic status, unemployment, and poor living conditions, to result in lower perceived quality of healthcare. Special attention needs to be given to the most vulnerable populations in order to improve healthcare. Challenges reside not only in assuring access, but also in promoting equity in the quality of care.
The ability of forest-dwelling species to adapt to changes in their habitat is being increasingly challenged by the rapid pace of human-induced forest degradation. Understanding the effect of such environmental changes on biodiversity requires comparative analyses across species living within the same habitats. We investigated the effect of forest exploitation on the genetic structure and demography of two sympatric arboreal primates showing differences in their socioecology: the Western black-andwhite colobus (Colobus polykomos) and Temminck's red colobus (Procolobus badius temminckii). We conducted the study in a fragmented and human-impacted forest in Guinea Bissau. Using microsatellite data from six C. polykomos and eight P. b. temminckii social groups, we found that in C. polykomos the distribution of genetic diversity followed an isolation-by-distance pattern whereas for P. b. temminckii, the results 2 suggested restriction in female dispersal. We detected a strong, recent bottleneck for both primates, which we inferred to have resulted from the anthropogenic exploitation of forest resources in the last centuries. The bottleneck signal was stronger for P. b. temminckii as a likely consequence of its larger estimated ancestral population size. Finally, we discussed the different analytical approaches used. Our results confirm that P. b. temminckii is more affected by habitat changes than C. polykomos, despite being phylogenetically close. Nonetheless, the low estimated effective population sizes and the known demographic changes indicate that both species are severely threatened by human forest exploitation, requiring urgent conservation action.
Our study concerns local knowledge and perceptions of chimpanzees among farming communities within Cantanhez National Park, Guinea-Bissau. We submitted a survey questionnaire to 100 people living in four villages in the Park to enquire about their knowledge of chimpanzee ecology and human-chimpanzee interactions. Local farmers live in close contact with chimpanzees, consider them to be more similar to humans than any other species, and attribute special importance to them primarily due to expectations of tourism revenue. Interviewees' responses, as a function of gender, village, and age, were analyzed statistically using non-parametric tests (Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis). Age influenced responses significantly, while gender and village had no significant effect. Youngsters emphasized morphological aspects of human-chimpanzee similarities, while adults emphasized chimpanzee behavior and narratives about the shared history of humans and chimpanzees. Tourism, conservation, and crop raiding feature prominently in people's reports about chimpanzees. Local people's engagement with conservation and tourism-related activities is likely to allow them to manage not only the costs but also the benefits of conservation, and can in turn inform the expectations built upon tourism.
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