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Factors Influencing Density and Distribution of Great Ape Nests in the Absence of Human Activities

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Abstract

Small-scale comparisons help us to understand how habitat features and food availability impact primate abundance. This is particularly useful at sites without human impacts, as it allows for the investigation of the natural factors influencing nesting patterns and great ape abundance. We provide a small-scale study of sympatric great ape nests in an unlogged old-growth forest without poaching activities. We conducted a line transect survey (52 km total effort) around Mbeli Bai, a forest clearing in Nouabalé–Ndoki National Park, Congo, applying on-site nest decay rates and assigning nest builder using logistic regression. We found a high occurrence of monodominant Gilbertiodendron dewevrei at Mbeli Bai (34%) that correlates with low great ape densities at Mbeli Bai. Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes troglodytes) showed a preference for nesting in trees in closed canopy monodominant forest. We found a low percentage of gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) nests in mixed species forest (35%) and a higher percentage in trees (64%) compared to other study sites. However, generalized additive models found higher gorilla nest encounter rates in mixed species forest with dense understory than in monodominant forest and open understory. We found no indication of higher gorilla densities close to Mbeli Bai than elsewhere, and line transect estimates were lower than the number of gorillas revealed from direct observations. There were substantial differences between our findings and those for nearby sites, demonstrating the utility of small-scale comparisons to further understand the factors determining chimpanzee and gorilla densities within and between sites and the limitations of nest surveys.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the Ministry of Sustainable Development, Forest Economy and Environment and the Ministry of Scientific Research of the Republic of Congo for granting permission to conduct the study. We are grateful to the Wildlife Conservation Society, Congo, particularly to Emma J. Stokes for proving crucial logistical and administrative support and advice throughout the study. We thank Jean-Robert Onononga for useful discussion on transect surveys. We are particularly thankful to our data collectors, especially Ella Emeline Bamona and Ricky, as well as the local assistants. Funding for our long-term monitoring at Mbeli Bai was provided by Brevard Zoo, The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden, Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, Cologne Zoo, Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund, Dublin Zoo, Houston Zoo, Sea World and Busch Gardens Conservation Fund, Toronto Zoo, Wildlife Conservation Society, and Woodland Park Zoo. We particularly thank the Pittsburgh Zoo, which provided a specific grant for this study.

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  1. Thomas Breuer

    Present address: World Wide Fund for Nature – Germany, Berlin, Germany

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mbeli Bai Study; Wildlife Conservation Society – Congo Program, B.P. 14537, Brazzaville, Republic of Congo

    Thomas Breuer & Mireille Breuer-Ndoundou Hockemba

  2. Wildlife Conservation Society, Global Conservation Program, Bronx, NY, USA

    Samantha Strindberg

Authors
  1. Thomas Breuer
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  2. Mireille Breuer-Ndoundou Hockemba
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  3. Samantha Strindberg
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Contributions

TB originally formulated the idea. TB and SS developed the methodology and MBNH conducted the fieldwork. TB and SS performed the statistical analyses. TB and SS wrote the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Thomas Breuer.

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Handling Editor: Joanna Setchell.

Supplementary Information

The Electronic Supplementary Material includes details of correlations between the explanatory variables (ESM Table SI), the detection functions (ESM Fig. S1), and conditional dependence of nest encounter rates on key habitat variables included in the single variable Generalized Additive Models (ESM Fig. S2).

ESM 1

(DOCX 377 kb)

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Breuer, T., Breuer-Ndoundou Hockemba, M. & Strindberg, S. Factors Influencing Density and Distribution of Great Ape Nests in the Absence of Human Activities. Int J Primatol 42, 640–665 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10764-021-00229-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10764-021-00229-z

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