Genetic censusing identifies an unexpectedly sizeable population of an endangered large mammal in a fragmented forest landscape

McCarthy, Maureen S.; Lester, Jack D.; Howe, Eric J.; Arandjelovic, Mimi; Stanford, Craig B.; Vigilant, Linda

doi:10.1186/s12898-015-0052-x

Cited by 47 publications

(53 citation statements)

References 98 publications

(140 reference statements)

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“…Importantly, TIRM and TIRMpart performed well according to these 3 criteria in both the 3‐month and 3‐year sampling periods. This is encouraging considering that previous research has emphasized TIRM when using multiple genetic CR approaches to estimate population size (Puechmaille and Petit ; Arandjelovic et al , ; McCarthy et al ). Also encouraging was the result that, in contrast to the general pattern for the models overall, TIRM and TIRMpart had higher overall performance in the 3‐year versus the 3‐month sampling period, with notably narrower confidence intervals in the former.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 52%

Evaluating genetic capture‐recapture using a chimpanzee population of known size

et al. 2016

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Genetic capture‐recapture (CR) estimates of population size have potential for aiding the conservation and management of rare or elusive animals. To date, few studies have explored the performance of genetic CR estimates by implementing them in a population of known size. We evaluated the accuracy and precision of genetic CR estimates by genotyping fecal samples collected opportunistically over the territory of a well‐studied group of approximately 190 previously identified and genotyped eastern chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) in Kibale National Park, Uganda. We compared the performance of genetic CR estimates based on 3‐month and 3‐year sampling periods to explore the impact of lengthened sample periods, which are expected to increase accuracy and precision of estimates but also increase the chances of violating population closure assumptions. We compared the effects of using spatial and non‐spatial models and equal or heterogeneous detection probabilities upon estimates. Over the 3‐year period, we detected 54% of the group members and produced population size estimates with more accuracy and narrower confidence intervals than the 3‐month sampling period. The population remained effectively closed over the 3 years and detection heterogeneity was linked to age but not sex. Non‐spatial methods estimated group size more accurately than spatially explicit methods, which had a stronger tendency to underestimate population size. This study suggests that genetic CR may produce accurate and precise population size estimates if substantial effort is allocated to sample collection and genotyping. © 2016 The Wildlife Society.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 52%

Evaluating genetic capture‐recapture using a chimpanzee population of known size

et al. 2016

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“…While chimpanzees in other ecotone regions were found to occasionally nest in woodland savanna (Baldwin et al, 1982;Hicks et al, 2014;McCarthy et al, 2015;Moore and Vigilant, 2013;Ogawa et al, 2007;Pruetz et al, 2008), all 406 chimpanzee nests found in this study were located in CCF, as was also reported for the ecotone of Republic of Côte d'Ivoire (Marchesi et al, 1995). In the CNR, chimpanzees further favor extensive CCF habitat also around their nest sites.…”

Section: Habitat Preferencessupporting

confidence: 75%

“…1) that were typed at overlapping sets of microsatellite markers. We first combined our data with that of three populations of Central chimpanzees from Loango in Gabon (Arandjelovic et al, 2011), Lobéké in Cameroon and Nouabalé-Ndoki in the Republic of Congo (Fünfstück et al, 2015) and one population of Eastern chimpanzees from Budongo-Bugoma in Uganda (McCarthy et al, 2015) and used the eight microsatellite loci D10s676, D5s1470-PIG, D4s1627, D7s817-F2, D11s2002-R2, D3s3038, D3s2459 and D7s2204 that were typed in all populations. In a second set of analyses we added two additional populations of Eastern chimpanzees from Ugalla in Tanzania (Moore and Vigilant, 2013) and Gishwati in Rwanda (Chancellor et al, 2012).…”

Section: Inferring Population Structurementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The samples represent three of the putative groups identified above (Communities C1, C2 and C3). Since there is no standard set of microsatellites used and since the comparison of alleles identified by different research groups is difficult, we restricted our comparison to individuals from one Eastern (Budongo-Bugoma, n = 14, (McCarthy et al, 2015) and three Central chimpanzee populations (Arandjelovic et al, 2011;Fünfstück et al, 2015)Loango, n = 12, Lobéké, n = 12 and Ndoki, n = 14, (Arandjelovic et al, 2011;Fünfstück et al, 2015) and also to eight loci for which we were confident in matching alleles between studies. Despite the limit number of markers, all analyses conducted with STRUCTURE consistently assigned the CNR individuals to an Eastern chimpanzee cluster both at the preferred K = 2 and any higher K (Fig.…”

Section: Genetic Comparisonmentioning

confidence: 99%

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First quantitative survey delineates the distribution of chimpanzees in the Eastern Central African Republic

Aebischer

Siguindo

Rochat

et al. 2017

Biological Conservation

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A B S T R A C TVast, pristine ecosystems and their biodiversity are vanishing globally at frightening speed, but many large tracts of wilderness have not yet been systematically inventoried and important natural populations of threatened species remain poorly characterized. The forest-savanna ecotone of the Eastern Central African Republic (CAR) is one such poorly studied area. Using camera traps, transect walks and collected fecal samples, we provide the first quantitative survey of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) in this region previously classified as a highly important chimpanzee conservation unit. In contrast to species distribution models and expert predictions, we did not find any evidence of chimpanzees in the large and remote forest blocks west of the Chinko River despite considerable search effort. Our study thus highlights the limitations of relying solely on remote sensing data to predict the presence or absence of endangered species and illustrates the necessity of extensive field surveys to accurately assess occurrence and density in remote areas. However, we did discover a sizeable and reproducing population of chimpanzees east of the Chinko River. Based on a density of 0.81 chimpanzees/km 2 in closed canopy forest that we inferred from nest count data, we estimate 910 weaned chimpanzees to inhabit the Chinko Nature Reserve (CNR) and further predict additional 2700 individuals in adjacent, unmanaged hunting zones and reserves. According to microsatellite data, these chimpanzees genetically cluster with P. t. schweinfurthii populations in East Africa. Conservation action and appropriate management plans are urgently needed to protect this important population and to prevent heavily-armed nomadic pastoralists from the Sahel, illegal miners, as well as elephant and meat poachers, from irretrievably destroying the natural vegetation and local biodiversity of the area.

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“…For example, genotypes can be extracted from dung and hair surveys that, via sample association patterns, can provide data on group structure and composition [4, 5]. Specific to great apes, sleeping nest sites provide information on the size of a group, whilst their spatial distribution and clustering can be used to infer territories [6].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Passive acoustic monitoring reveals group ranging and territory use: a case study of wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)

et al. 2016

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BackgroundAssessing the range and territories of wild mammals traditionally requires years of data collection and often involves directly following individuals or using tracking devices. Indirect and non-invasive methods of monitoring wildlife have therefore emerged as attractive alternatives due to their ability to collect data at large spatiotemporal scales using standardized remote sensing technologies. Here, we investigate the use of two novel passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) systems used to capture long-distance sounds produced by the same species, wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), living in two different habitats: forest (Taï, Côte d’Ivoire) and savanna-woodland (Issa valley, Tanzania).ResultsUsing data collected independently at two field sites, we show that detections of chimpanzee sounds on autonomous recording devices were predicted by direct and indirect indices of chimpanzee presence. At Taï, the number of chimpanzee buttress drums detected on recording devices was positively influenced by the number of hours chimpanzees were seen ranging within a 1 km radius of a device. We observed a similar but weaker relationship within a 500 m radius. At Issa, the number of indirect chimpanzee observations positively predicted detections of chimpanzee loud calls on a recording device within a 500 m but not a 1 km radius. Moreover, using just seven months of PAM data, we could locate two known chimpanzee communities in Taï and observed monthly spatial variation in the center of activity for each group.ConclusionsOur work shows PAM is a promising new tool for gathering information about the ranging behavior and habitat use of chimpanzees and can be easily adopted for other large territorial mammals, provided they produce long-distance acoustic signals that can be captured by autonomous recording devices (e.g., lions and wolves). With this study we hope to promote more interdisciplinary research in PAM to help overcome its challenges, particularly in data processing, to improve its wider application.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12983-016-0167-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Genetic censusing identifies an unexpectedly sizeable population of an endangered large mammal in a fragmented forest landscape

Cited by 47 publications

References 98 publications

Evaluating genetic capture‐recapture using a chimpanzee population of known size

Evaluating genetic capture‐recapture using a chimpanzee population of known size

First quantitative survey delineates the distribution of chimpanzees in the Eastern Central African Republic

Passive acoustic monitoring reveals group ranging and territory use: a case study of wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)

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