The habitat quality of chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes), including the availability of plant food and nesting species, is important to ensure the long-term survival of this endangered species. Botanical composition of vegetation is spatially variable and depends on soil characteristics, weather, topography, and numerous other biotic and abiotic factors. There are few data regarding the availability of chimpanzee plant food and nesting species in the Masito-Ugalla Ecosystem (MUE), a vast area that lies outside national park boundaries in Tanzania, and how the availability of these resources varies with human disturbance. We hypothesized that chimpanzee plant food species richness, diversity, and abundance decline with increasing human disturbance. Further, we predicted that chimpanzee abundance and habitat use is influenced negatively by human disturbance. Published literature from Issa Valley, Gombe, and Mahale Mountains National Parks, in Tanzania, was used to document plant species consumed by chimpanzees, and quantify their richness, diversity, and abundance, along 32 transects totaling 63.8 km in length across four sites of varying human disturbance in MUE. We documented 102 chimpanzee plant food species and found a significant differences in their species richness (H = 55.09, P < 0.001) and diversity (H = 36.81, P < 0.001) across disturbance levels, with the moderately disturbed site exhibiting the highest species richness and diversity. Chimpanzees built nests in 17 different tree species. The abundance of nesting tree species did not vary across survey sites (H = 0.279, P > 0.964). The least disturbed site exhibited the highest encounter rate of chimpanzee nests/km, with rates declining toward the highly disturbed sites. Our results show that severe anthropogenic disturbance in MUE is associated with the loss of chimpanzee plant food species and negatively influences chimpanzee habitat use, a relationship that threatens the future of all chimpanzee populations outside national parks.

中文翻译：

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坦桑尼亚Masito-Ugalla生态系统中的人为干扰和黑猩猩（pan troglodytes）栖息地使用

黑猩猩（Pan troglodytes）的栖息地质量。）（包括植物性食物和嵌套物种的可用性）对于确保该濒危物种的长期生存至关重要。植被的植物组成在空间上是可变的，并且取决于土壤特征，天气，地形和许多其他生物和非生物因素。关于Masito-Ugalla生态系统（MUE）中黑猩猩的植物食物和嵌套物种的可用性的数据很少，这是坦桑尼亚国家公园边界之外的广阔地区，以及这些资源的可用性如何随人为干扰而变化。我们假设黑猩猩植物食物种类的丰富性，多样性和丰度会随着人为干扰的增加而下降。此外，我们预测黑猩猩的丰度和栖息地的使用受到人类干扰的负面影响。贡贝（Imsa Valley），贡贝（Imsa Valley），坦桑尼亚的马哈莱山脉国家公园（Mahale Mountains National Park）和黑猩猩（Mahale Mountains National Park）用来记录黑猩猩所消耗的植物物种，并在MUE的四个受人类干扰影响的四个地点沿32个样带，共计63.8公里，量化它们的丰富性，多样性和丰度。我们记录了102种黑猩猩的植物性食物，发现它们的物种丰富度存在显着差异（H = 55.09，P <0.001）和多样性（H = 36.81，P <0.001）在不同的干扰水平上，中度受干扰的地区表现出最高的物种丰富度和多样性。黑猩猩在17种不同的树种中筑巢。筑巢树种的丰富度在调查地点之间没有变化（H = 0.279，P> 0.964）。受干扰最少的站点表现出最高的黑猩猩巢/ km发生率，且向受高度干扰的站点下降的速率有所下降。我们的结果表明，MUE中的严重人为干扰与黑猩猩植物食物的丧失有关，并对黑猩猩的栖息地使用产生负面影响，这种关系威胁着国家公园以外所有黑猩猩种群的未来。