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African great apes indicate mammalian abundance across broad spatial scales
  • +42
  • Paul Kazaba,
  • Lars Kulik,
  • Ghislain Brice Choumbou,
  • Christelle Tiémoko,
  • Funmilayo Oni,
  • Serge Kamgang,
  • Stephanie Heinicke,
  • Inza Koné,
  • Samedi Mucyo,
  • Sop Tenekwetche,
  • Christophe Boesch,
  • Colleen Stephens,
  • Anthony Agbor,
  • Samuel Angedakin,
  • Emma Bailey,
  • Mattia Bessone,
  • Charlotte Coupland,
  • Tobias Deschner,
  • Paula Dieguez,
  • Anne-Celine Granjon,
  • Briana Harder,
  • Josephine Head,
  • Cleveland Hicks,
  • Sorrel Jones,
  • Parag Kadam,
  • Ammie Kalan,
  • Kevin Langergraber,
  • Juan Lapuente,
  • Kevin Lee,
  • Laura Lynn,
  • Nuria Maldonado,
  • Maureen McCarthy,
  • Amelia Meier,
  • Lucy Jayne Ormsby ,
  • Alex Piel,
  • Martha Robbins,
  • Lilah Sciaky ,
  • Volker Sommer,
  • Fiona Stewart ,
  • Jane Widness,
  • Roman Wittig,
  • Erin Wessling,
  • Mimi Arandjelovic,
  • Hjalmar Kühl,
  • Yntze van der Hoek
Paul Kazaba
Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund

Corresponding Author:paulkazaba@gmail.com

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Lars Kulik
Senckenberg Museum of Natural History Görlitz
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Ghislain Brice Choumbou
World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)
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Christelle Tiémoko
Université Jean Lorougnon Guédé
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Funmilayo Oni
Ladoke Akintola University of Technology
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Serge Kamgang
Biodiversité-Environnement et Développement Durable
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Stephanie Heinicke
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) e V
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Inza Koné
Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny
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Samedi Mucyo
Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund
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Sop Tenekwetche
Senckenberg Museum of Natural History Görlitz Library
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Christophe Boesch
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
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Colleen Stephens
Max-Planck-Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
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Anthony Agbor
Max-Planck-Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
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Samuel Angedakin
Max-Planck-Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
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Emma Bailey
Max-Planck-Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
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Mattia Bessone
Max-Planck-Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
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Charlotte Coupland
Max-Planck-Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
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Tobias Deschner
Max-Planck-Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
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Paula Dieguez
German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig
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Anne-Celine Granjon
Max-Planck-Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
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Briana Harder
Max-Planck-Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
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Josephine Head
The Biodiversity Consultancy
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Cleveland Hicks
University of Warsaw
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Sorrel Jones
RSPB Centre for Conservation Science
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Parag Kadam
University of Georgia
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Ammie Kalan
University of Victoria
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Kevin Langergraber
Arizona State University
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Juan Lapuente
Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology
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Kevin Lee
Max-Planck-Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
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Laura Lynn
Max-Planck-Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
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Nuria Maldonado
Max-Planck-Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
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Maureen McCarthy
Max-Planck-Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
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Amelia Meier
University of Hawai'i at Manoa
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Lucy Jayne Ormsby
Max-Planck-Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
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Alex Piel
University College London
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Martha Robbins
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
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Lilah Sciaky
Max-Planck-Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
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Volker Sommer
University College London
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Fiona Stewart
Liverpool John Moores University
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Jane Widness
Yale University
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Roman Wittig
UMR5229
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Erin Wessling
German Primate Centre Leibniz Institute for Primate Research
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Mimi Arandjelovic
Max-Planck-Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
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Hjalmar Kühl
Max-Planck-Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
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Yntze van der Hoek
The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund
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Abstract

Ongoing ecosystem change and biodiversity decline across the Afrotropics call for tools to monitor the state of African biodiversity or ecosystem elements (e.g., completeness and integrity) across extensive spatial and temporal scales. We assessed relationships in the co-occurrence patterns between great apes and other mammals, to evaluate if ape abundance serves as proxies of mammal diversity across broad spatial scales. We used camera trap footage recorded at 22 sites, each known to harbor a population of chimpanzees and/or gorillas, across 12 sub-Saharan African countries. From ~350,000 1-minute camera trap videos recorded between 2010 and 2016, we estimated mammalian community metrics [i.e., (species) richness, (Shannon) diversity, and body mass (hereafter simplified as “animal mass”)]—considering only medium and large-bodied species — and fitted Bayesian Regression Models to assess potential relationships between ape abundances and these metrics. We included site-level protection status, human footprint, and precipitation variance as control variables. We found that relationships between the abundance of great apes and the total abundance and body mass of non-ape mammals were largely positive. In contrast, relationships between ape abundance and mammal richness were less clear, except chimpanzee abundance as a predictor of mammalian richness inside protected areas and areas with high human impact. Relationships between ape abundance and mammal diversity were largely negative for both species, in that sites with higher ape abundances had mammalian communities with relatively uneven abundance distributions. Our findings suggest that gorillas and chimpanzees hold potential as indicators of specific elements of mammalian communities, especially population-level (abundance) and composition-related (body mass) characteristics. Monitoring ape populations may inform ecosystem management: declines in ape populations may serve as early warning signals and indicate a need for conservation interventions, as changes in ape abundance and community composition are likely to precede extirpation of other mammal species.
05 Jun 2024Submitted to Ecology and Evolution
10 Jun 2024Reviewer(s) Assigned
10 Sep 2024Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
16 Sep 2024Editorial Decision: Revise Minor