Advancing conservation planning for western chimpanzees using IUCN SSC A.P.E.S. - The case of a taxon-specific database

Pan troglodytes verus; Species distribution model; West Africa; Biodiversity; Conservation; Database systems; Forestry; Intellectual property; Laws and legislation; Population distribution; Surveys; Density distributions; Infrastructure project; Intellectual property rights; Research collaborations; Species distribution modeling; Population statistics; Hominidae; Pan; Primates

Abstract :

[en] Even though information on global biodiversity trends becomes increasingly available, large taxonomic and spatial data gaps persist at the scale relevant to planning conservation interventions. This is because data collectors are hesitant to share data with global repositories due to workload, lack of incentives, and perceived risk of losing intellectual property rights. In contrast, due to greater conceptual and methodological proximity, taxon-specific database initiatives can provide more direct benefits to data collectors through research collaborations and shared authorship. The IUCN SSC Ape Populations, Environments and Surveys (A.P.E.S.) database was created in 2005 as a repository for data on great apes and other primate taxa. It aims to acquire field survey data and make different types of data accessible, and provide up-to-date species status information. To support the current update of the conservation action plan for western chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) we compiled field surveys for this taxon from IUCN SSC A.P.E.S., 75% of which were unpublished. We used spatial modeling to infer total population size, range-wide density distribution, population connectivity and landscape-scale metrics. We estimated a total abundance of 52 800 (95% CI 17 577-96 564) western chimpanzees, of which only 17% occurred in national parks. We also found that 10% of chimpanzees live within 25 km of four multi-national 'development corridors' currently planned for West Africa. These large infrastructure projects aim to promote economic integration and agriculture expansion, but are likely to cause further habitat loss and reduce population connectivity. We close by demonstrating the wealth of conservation-relevant information derivable from a taxon-specific database like IUCN SSC A.P.E.S. and propose that a network of many more such databases could be created to provide the essential information to conservation that can neither be supplied by one-off projects nor by global repositories, and thus are highly complementary to existing initiatives. © 2019 The Author(s). Published by IOP Publishing Ltd.

Disciplines :

Zoology

Author, co-author :

Heinicke, S.; Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany, German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (IDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany

Mundry, R.; Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany

Boesch, C.; Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany, Wild Chimpanzee Foundation, West Africa Representation, Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire

Amarasekaran, B.; Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary, Freetown, Sierra Leone

Barrie, A.; Bumbuna Watershed Management Authority, Freetown, Sierra Leone

Brncic, T.; Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary, Freetown, Sierra Leone

Brugiere, D.; Projets Biodiversité et Ressources Naturelles BRL Ingénierie, Nimes Cedex, France

Campbell, G.; Biodiversity Consultancy Ltd, Cambridge, United Kingdom

Carvalho, J.; Faculty of Computing Science and Mathematics, University of Stirling, Stirling, United Kingdom

Danquah, E.; Department of Wildlife and Range Management, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana

More authors (31 more)

Language :

English

Title :

Advancing conservation planning for western chimpanzees using IUCN SSC A.P.E.S. - The case of a taxon-specific database

Publication date :

2019

Journal title :

Environmental Research Letters

eISSN :

1748-9326

Publisher :

Institute of Physics Publishing, United Kingdom

Volume :

Issue :

Pages :

064001

Peer reviewed :

Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi

Funders :

Robert Bosch Stiftung [DE]
MPG - Max-Planck-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften [DE]

Available on ORBi :

since 21 July 2021

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