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The habitat quality of chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes), including the availability of food and
nesting resources, is important to ensure the long-term survival of chimpanzees. Botanical
composition of vegetation is spatially variable and depends on numerous biotic and abiotic
factors. There are few data regarding the availability of chimpanzee plant food and nesting
species in the Masito-Ugalla ecosystem (MUE), and how these resources vary with human
disturbance. It was hypothesized that chimpanzee plant food species richness, diversity, and
abundance, decline with increasing disturbance. Further, it was predicted that chimpanzee
abundance and habitat use is influenced negatively by disturbance. Published literature from
Issa Valley, Gombe, and Mahale Mountains National Parks, 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. A total of 102 plant food species was documented and found significant differences in
their species richness (H = 55.09, P < 0.001) and diversity (H = 36.81, P < 0.001) across
disturbance levels. Chimpanzees built nests in 17 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
-1
, with rates declining towards
the highly disturbed sites. Thus, 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. |
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