GREAT APE CONSERVATION IN THE MATRIX: INVESTIGATING THE SOCIO-ECOLOGICAL RESPONSES OF CHIMPANZEES LIVING IN A FOREST-FARM MOSAIC, UGANDA

Behavioural flexibility may be crucial for the long-term persistence of animals in human-modified habitats, such as forest-farm mosaic landscapes. Understanding species’ socio-ecological responses to anthropogenic disturbances is essential for developing targeted strategies to ensure their survival in these habitats, particularly where conservation conflicts have arisen. This study investigates the responses of Eastern chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) in a newly studied site in Uganda with a history of negative human-chimpanzee interactions. I take a comparative approach, evaluating the differences in feeding strategies and activity budgets between chimpanzees in Waibira, a protected, continuous forest block, and Kasongoire, unprotected riverine forest fragments surrounded by a large-scale sugarcane plantation, subsistence crop gardens, roads and villages. I followed chimpanzees in both sites over 13 months from July 2015 to July 2016 and recorded their behaviour, species consumed and party composition, size and spread using instantaneous scan samples. I recorded tree species composition and the presence of wild fruits in the forest to determine the impact of human disturbance on the availability of chimpanzee feeding species and to assess how these ecological factors affected chimpanzee behavioural and feeding strategies. Using indirect observations I recorded chimpanzee mango-foraging habits in villagers’ crop gardens in Kasongoire to investigate how factors relating to risk influence their feeding strategies outside of the forest. In spite of human disturbance, Kasongoire forest is rich in chimpanzee feeding species and there was no shortage of wild fruits. Chimpanzees at both sites preferred ripe fruits, but at Kasongoire an unprecedented level of foraging on sugarcane was recorded: chimpanzees there spent thirty percent of their overall feeding time consuming sugarcane and adult males spent more time foraging on sugarcane than wild fruits. Kasongoire chimpanzees spent less time feeding and more time resting than did those in Waibira, likely as a result of fulfilling their metabolic requirements though foraging on crops. In Kasongoire, chimpanzees flexibly responded to the risk of leaving the forest boundary by forming larger parties comprising a higher ratio of males. Chimpanzees foraged heavily on mangos in the village-garden matrix when they were available, regardless of relative high wild fruit availability, and minimised risk of a human encounter by selecting trees which were unguarded and closer to the forest. The results demonstrate that chimpanzees can respond flexibly to risks and changes in human-modified habitats and that, for now at least, they have sufficient resources, when supplemented by crops. The implications for the future of the Kasongoire chimpanzee community are discussed. Ultimately, while they may exhibit behavioural flexibility, their long-term survival rests on the tolerance of the humans with which they share a landscape.

Grantor dc:publisher

Oxford Brookes University

Year dc:date

2019

Author dc:creator

• Oxley, Aimee Sylvia

Contributors dc:contributor

• Hill, Catherine
• Hockings, Kimberley
• McLennan, Matthew

Statement dc:rights

• All rights reserved

Language dc:language

en

DOI dc:identifier

https://doi.org/10.24384/238h-5s89

OAI identifier oai:identifier

tle:f40a243a-564e-4cc3-9d55-1771bc206b35:d6bd9758-527a-46cd-bfe2-c433766e8fca:1