The Influence of Transect Use by Local People and Reuse of Transects for Repeated Surveys on Nesting in Western Lowland Gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) and Central Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes troglodytes) in Southeast Cameroon

Tagg, Nikki; Willie, Jacob

doi:10.1007/s10764-013-9681-0

Cited by 20 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…We walked transects every two weeks for 13 months for nest censuses, during which recent night nests (<1‐month‐old) were recorded and marked with red paint to avoid recounting in the next survey. We considered multiple nests to belong to the same nest group when present within a radius of 20 m (gorilla) or 30 m (chimpanzee) (Dupain, Guislain, Nguenang, Vleeschouwer, & Elsacker, ; Tagg & Willie, ). Because we focused on fresh nests, characteristics, such as the presence of urine, hairs, feces, prints, and feeding remains, helped us distinguish gorilla nests from chimpanzee nests (Sanz, Morgan, Strindberg, & Onononga, ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The distribution of plant consumption traits across habitat types and the patterns of fruit availability suggest a mechanism of coexistence of two sympatric frugivorous mammals

Tédonzong

Willie

Tagg

et al. 2019

Ecology and Evolution

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Understanding the mechanisms governing the coexistence of organisms is an important question in ecology, and providing potential solutions contributes to conservation science. In this study, we evaluated the contribution of several mechanisms to the coexistence of two sympatric frugivores, using western lowland gorillas ( Gorilla gorilla gorilla ) and central chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes troglodytes ) in a tropical rainforest of southeast Cameroon as a model system. We collected great ape fecal samples to determine and classify fruit species consumed; we conducted great ape nest surveys to evaluate seasonal patterns of habitat use; and we collected botanical data to investigate the distribution of plant species across habitat types in relation to their “consumption traits” (which indicate whether plants are preferred or fallback for either gorilla, chimpanzee, or both). We found that patterns of habitat use varied seasonally for both gorillas and chimpanzees and that gorilla and chimpanzee preferred and fallback fruits differed. Also, the distribution of plant consumption traits was influenced by habitat type and matched accordingly with the patterns of habitat use by gorillas and chimpanzees. We show that neither habitat selection nor fruit preference alone can explain the coexistence of gorillas and chimpanzees, but that considering together the distribution of plant consumption traits of fruiting woody plants across habitats as well as the pattern of fruit availability may contribute to explaining coexistence. This supports the assumptions of niche theory with dominant and subordinate species in heterogeneous landscapes, whereby a species may prefer nesting in habitats where it is less subject to competitive exclusion and where food availability is higher. To our knowledge, our study is the first to investigate the contribution of plant consumption traits, seasonality, and habitat heterogeneity to enabling the coexistence of two sympatric frugivores. OPEN RESEARCH BADGES This article has earned an Open Data Badge for making publicly available the digitally‐shareable data necessary to reproduce the reported results. The data is available at https://datadryad.org/resource/doi:10.5061/dryad.ms65f29 10.5061/dryad.ms65f29 .

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The distribution of plant consumption traits across habitat types and the patterns of fruit availability suggest a mechanism of coexistence of two sympatric frugivorous mammals

Tédonzong

Willie

Tagg

et al. 2019

Ecology and Evolution

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“…On encountering a nest, we searched an area of 30 m radius for additional nests, and considered neighbouring nests as belonging to the same group if they were of the same age category and located within 30 m [Dupain et al, 2004]. We used these criteria as opposed to 50 m [White and Edwards, 2000], as the data were also to be used for comparison with other surveys in the site [Dupain et al, 2004;Tagg and Willie, 2013]. We accurately measured the perpendicular distance from the transect line to each visible nest using a compass and a decametre and recorded nest height, nest diameter, nest type and habitat type.…”

Section: Data Collectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ground Night Nesting in Chimpanzees: New Insights from Central Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes troglodytes) in South-East Cameroon

Tagg¹,

Willie²,

Petre³

et al. 2013

IJFP

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Some chimpanzee populations exhibit ground night nesting, which occurs in different habitat types, is driven by a variety of interconnected factors, and may reflect cultural or social differences. This has important implications for ape conservation management, given that accurate nest builder identification is required to estimate density, crucial in monitoring, and allows inferences about environmental and social factors that may have contributed to the transition from tree to ground sleeping in early hominins. We conducted a 24-month marked nest count survey in La Belgique, Cameroon, and recorded the occurrence of chimpanzee tree and ground night nests, temperature and rainfall, predator and large mammal abundance, human activities, nesting tree species, and Uapaca spp. consumption. Ground night nesting occurred at a rate of 3.47% (n = 1,008), with more in swamps, in the dry season and with increasing human activities. We found no influence of leopard/elephant presence, but a possible influence of lack of nesting trees. We suggest chimpanzees visit swamps in the dry season (low water levels) for relief from hunting pressure and to consume Uapaca spp. fruits. Ground nesting may be enabled due to high abundance of terrestrial herbaceous vegetation, and may be favoured for inconspicuousness and safety from gun hunters.

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“…To our knowledge, no empirical evidence is available supporting disturbance of chimpanzees by these species; however, chimpanzees can be competitively excluded by sympatric elephants when fruit availability is low (Head et al, ). Therefore, we hypothesize that higher abundances of elephants and buffalos will increase nocturnal activity. Evidence exists that wild chimpanzees perceive humans as a threat across their range, as they exhibit lower densities closer to human settlements (Clark, Poulsen, Malonga, & Elkan, ; Kano & Asato, ; Walsh et al, ), alter their behavior (Lindshield, Danielson, Rothman, & Pruetz, ), and avoid areas of human disturbance (Arnhem, Dupain, Vercauteren, Devos, & Vercauteren, ; Rabanal, Kühl, Mundry, Robbins, & Boesch, ; Stokes et al, ; Tagg & Willie, ). Therefore, human activity overnight may also cause disturbance to sleeping chimpanzees.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nocturnal activity in wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes): Evidence for flexible sleeping patterns and insights into human evolution

Tagg

McCarthy

Dieguez

et al. 2018

American J Phys Anthropol

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Chimpanzee terrestrial nocturnal activity appears widespread yet infrequent, which suggests a consolidated sleeping pattern. Nocturnal activity may be driven by the stress of high daily temperatures and may be enabled at low levels of human activity. Human activity may exert a relatively greater influence on chimpanzee nocturnal behavior than predator presence. We suggest that chimpanzee nocturnal activity is flexible, enabling them to respond to changing environmental factors.

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The Influence of Transect Use by Local People and Reuse of Transects for Repeated Surveys on Nesting in Western Lowland Gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) and Central Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes troglodytes) in Southeast Cameroon

Cited by 20 publications

References 38 publications

The distribution of plant consumption traits across habitat types and the patterns of fruit availability suggest a mechanism of coexistence of two sympatric frugivorous mammals

The distribution of plant consumption traits across habitat types and the patterns of fruit availability suggest a mechanism of coexistence of two sympatric frugivorous mammals

Ground Night Nesting in Chimpanzees: New Insights from Central Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes troglodytes) in South-East Cameroon

Nocturnal activity in wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes): Evidence for flexible sleeping patterns and insights into human evolution

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