The reasons why this region has so many endemic taxa remain unclear, but this pattern of high endemism has been attributed to the effects of geographic barriers, such as the Niger River, Sanaga River, and the Cameroon Highlands, as well as to the history of the forests in this area during the Pleistocene. The Gulf of Guinea region of Africa is widely recognized as a biodiversity hotspot of global significance due to the region’s high number of endemic taxa. Second, this region of Africa is expected to experience dramatic changes in forest cover and composition in response to climate change, and these changes are expected to accelerate over the next century. Data regarding the relationship between the distribution of genetic diversity and environmental variation remain sparse for the study region, but a growing body of evidence suggests that a strong relationship exists between the partitioning of adaptive genetic variation and environmental variation in Cameroon for the few taxa studied to date. First, it is unknown what role niche divergence plays in the genetic divergence of chimpanzees, or even if the various chimpanzee subspecies occupy significantly different types of habitats. Accounting for both of these factors in ENMs is important for at least two reasons. However, this study was carried out at a coarse resolution on a continental scale and did not account for two important factors, namely 1) the detailed population genetic structure of chimpanzees across Africa, particularly Cameroon, and 2) the potential role of future climate change on the distribution of suitable habitat for the two chimpanzee subspecies that occupy this region. These conclusions were attributed to previous widespread habitat loss in P. schweinfurthii have not experienced any significant changes in suitable habitat. troglodytes had experienced the most significant decline in suitable habitat, but that P. They compared ENMs from the 1990s and early 2000s in order to determine which ape taxa had experienced the most significant loss of suitable habitat in the recent past. This study was comprehensive, and included two composite maps of taxon-specific ENMs for each ape subspecies at a continental scale. created ecological niche models (ENMs) for all African great apes. ellioti in central Cameroon, which represents half of the population of this subspecies, is expected to experience drastic reductions in its ecotone habitat over the coming century. ellioti in northwest Cameroon / eastern Nigeria is expected to remain largely unchanged through 2080 in all considered scenarios. ENMs for each population were also projected under three different climate change scenarios for years 2020, 2050, and 2080. These findings suggest that a positive relationship may exist between environmental variation and the partitioning of genetic variation found in chimpanzees across this region. ENMs for each population were compared using the niche comparison test in ENMtools, which revealed complete niche divergence with very little geographic overlap of suitable habitat between populations. ellioti in northwestern Cameroon, and ( iii) P. troglodytes in southern Cameroon, ( ii) P.
#Chimpanzee conservation status software#
ResultsĮcological niche models (ENMs) were created using the software package Maxent for the three populations of chimpanzees that have been inferred to exist in Cameroon and eastern Nigeria: ( i) P. A final aim of this study was to examine the ways that climate change might impact suitable chimpanzee habitat across the region under various scenarios. troglodytes in southern Cameroon, 2) to determine which environmental factors best predict their optimal habitats, and 3) to compare modeled niches and test for their levels of divergence from one another. ellioti across Cameroon and Nigeria, and P. The main aims of this study were: 1) to model the distribution of suitable habitat for P. troglodytes) by the Sanaga River, recent population genetics studies of chimpanzees from across this region suggest that additional factors may also be important in their separation. ellioti appears to be geographically separated from the neighboring central chimpanzee ( P. This subspecies is threatened by habitat fragmentation due to logging and agricultural development, hunting for the bushmeat trade, and possibly climate change. The Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzee ( Pan troglodytes ellioti) is found in the Gulf of Guinea biodiversity hotspot located in western equatorial Africa.
0 kommentar(er)
