RAPID: Time critical survey of great ape population size, health and genetics in threatened habitats

The Jane Goodall Institute, Washington DC

Investigators

Abstract

This RAPID award will support a survey of wild chimpanzees living in an area that is immediately threatened by deforestation and agricultural expansion, near but outside of Gombe National Park. The demographics of this chimpanzee group, and the relationship of this group to wild chimpanzees on protected lands, are not well understood. As part of the survey, biosamples will be non-invasively collected, so that genetic relationships and dispersal patterns can be understood in the context of habitat pressure and as comparative data for understanding hominin evolution. The project will foster international research collaborations and contribute to endangered primate conservation efforts. The chimpanzees of Gombe National Park, Tanzania, have played a central role in anthropological and biological studies, contributing to the understanding of human evolution through elucidating the similarities and differences between chimpanzees and humans, and providing fundamental insights into topics including behavior, ecology, life history, and disease ecology. Also, a substantial chimpanzee population has persisted 10-20 km to the northeast of the park within a recently established network of village forest reserves along the Gombe-Burundi Ridge. Little is known about the extent to which these populations are currently connected. Moreover, recent surveys and satellite images show that the northern population faces immediate threats from tree cutting, farming, and other activities. The investigators will work with village forest monitors to conduct a thorough survey of these chimpanzees, procuring, before the population dwindles, fecal samples vital for future research. Non-invasive genetic and biomarker analyses will provide new insights into chimpanzee dispersal patterns, microbiome and pathogen diversity, and the speed at which anthropogenic habitat fragmentation influences population differentiation.