Red‐tail monkey groups in forest patches outside the protected area system in the ‘Kampala area’

Abstract

This study was conducted in the ‘Kampala area’, a forest‐savanna‐agricultural mosaic, and was aimed at investigating the ecology and survival of the red‐tail monkey, Cercopithecus ascanius schmidti in fragmented forest patches outside the protected area system. The relationship between habitat variables and red‐tail monkeys' distribution and other demographic factors were investigated. The average group size for red‐tail monkeys in the forest patches was 11.9, while that in Mpanga Forest Reserve it was 23.2. Most of the red‐tail monkey groups had breeding females but there were small populations with no breeding females. The number of breeding females and young varied in different forest patches with the breeding sex ratio ranging from 0 to 1:3. The residential status of red‐tails in the patches was partly influenced by the presence of the vervet monkey and the intensity of human activities in the vicinity.

Massive structural and compositional changes over two decades in forest fragments near Kampala, Uganda

“…In 1990, baseline data on species composition and structure of 22 forest fragments in the greater Kampala area were collected by Baranga (,b). We aimed to resample these forests 20 years after the original survey.…”

“…The method used in this study was designed by Baranga in 1990 (Baranga ,b) and this was followed as closely as possible in 2010. For each forest fragment line, transects ranging in length from 100 m to 1000 m, depending on forest size, were established along the longest axis of each forest.…”

“…). For example, the once extensive forests of the Kampala area have been reduced and fragmented into small forests restricted to lake shores, valleys, and hilltops (Baranga ,b) surrounded by urban, semiurban areas, and subsistence agricultural gardens. Forest owners include the Catholic Church, private landowners, government institutions, and community ownership for cultural use (sacred forests) with associated management patterns.…”

“…We predict that differences in forest management associated with different ownership will lead to greater risk of forest loss and more structural and compositional change in private forests with low levels of protection, and least change in government‐owned, particularly reserved, forest. To test these predictions, we resampled a data set from 1990 of 22 forest fragments whose ownership ranged from reserve, research, and sacred to individually owned forests (Baranga ,b). We use plot‐based methods to examine forest structure and tree species compositional changes within and among forest fragments.…”

Crop Raiding Patterns of Solitary and Social Groups of Red-Tailed Monkeys on Cocoa Pods in Uganda

“…Little attention has been paid to solitary males and bachelor groups as crop raiders. It is important to understand how different social groupings (e.g., group size, solitary animals) contribute to the exploitation of crops because human activities along forest edges or in forest fragments have been shown to promote formation of specific types of social groups [17][18][19]. Thus, it could be possible to partially manage crop damage by changing human activities in the forests in which crop-raiding primates typically live.…”