Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Going, Going, Gone: A 15-Year History of the Decline of Primates in Forest Fragments near Kibale National Park, Uganda

  • Chapter
Primates in Fragments

Part of the book series: Developments in Primatology: Progress and Prospects ((DIPR))

Abstract

Given accelerating trends of deforestation and human population growth, immediate and innovative solutions to conserve biodiversity are sorely needed. Between 1995 and 2010, we regularly monitored the population size and structure of colobus monkey populations in the forest fragments outside of Kibale National Park, Uganda. Through this monitoring we assessed the monkeys’ gastrointestinal parasites and fecal cortisol levels. Over 15 years, we documented a rapid decline in the number of fragments that supported primates, largely as a result of tree removal. Fecal cortisol levels of primates found in the fragments were consistently higher than in populations found in the continuous forest of the national park. The fragment populations also harbored gastrointestinal parasites rarely found in the main forest and exchanged bacteria with nearby people and livestock at high rates, suggesting that fragmentation facilitates disease transmission. Fragments supported the fuelwood needs of an average of 32 people living immediately adjacent to the fragment, and partially supported families up to three farms away (~400 m, representing 576 people). Intensive fuelwood harvesting occurred when neighboring households engaged in brewing beer (an average of 9.6 % of the households), distilling gin (8.8 %), or producing charcoal (14.5 %). Our data suggest that the future of small and unprotected forest fragments is bleak; a scenario that is unfortunately typical outside protected areas in many tropical regions.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Bonnell TR, Sengupta RR, Chapman CA, Goldberg TL (2010) Linking landscapes to disease: implications of spatial changes in resource distribution for red colobus monkey disease transmission. Ecol Model 221:2491–2500

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown S, Lugo AE (1994) Rehabilitation of tropical lands: a key to sustaining development. Restor Ecol 2:97–111

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bruner AG, Gullison RE, Rice RE, da Fonseca GAB (2001) Effectiveness of parks in protecting tropical biodiversity. Science 291:125–128

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Chapman CA, Chapman LJ (1999) Forest restoration in abandoned agricultural land: a case study from East Africa. Conserv Biol 13(6):1301–1311

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chapman CA, Lambert JE (2000) Habitat alteration and the conservation of African primates: case study of Kibale National Park, Uganda. Am J Primatol 50:169–185

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Chapman CA, Peres CA (2001) Primate conservation in the new millennium: the role of scientists. Evol Anthropol 10:16–33

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chapman CA, Speirs ML, Gillespie TR (2005) Dynamics of gastrointestinal parasites in two colobus monkeys following a dramatic increase in host density: contrasting density-dependent effects. Am J Primatol 67:259–266

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Chapman CA, Speirs ML, Gillespie TR, Holland T, Austad KM (2006a) Life on the edge: gastrointestinal parasites from the forest edge and interior primate groups. Am J Primatol 68:397–409

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Chapman CA, Wasserman MD, Gillespie TR, Speirs ML, Lawes MJ, Saj TL, Ziegler TE (2006b) Do nutrition, parasitism, and stress have synergistic effects on red colobus populations living in forest fragments? Am J Phys Anthropol 131:525–534

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Chapman CA, Naughton-Treves L, Lawes MJ, Wasserman MD, Gillespie TR (2007) The conservation value of forest fragments: explanations for population declines of the colobus of western Uganda. Int J Primatol 23:513–578

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chapman CA, Speirs ML, Hodder SAM, Rothman JM (2010) Colobus monkey parasite infections in wet and dry habitats: implications for climate change. Afr J Ecol 48:555–558

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Donnenberg M (ed) (2002) Escherichia coli: virulence mechanisms of a versatile pathogen. Academic, San Diego

    Google Scholar 

  • FAO (2005) Global Forest Resources Assessment 2005: progress towards sustainable forest management. FAO Forestry Paper 147, Rome

    Google Scholar 

  • Garcia LS (1999) Practical guide to diagnostic parasitology. ASM Press, Washington, D.C

    Google Scholar 

  • Gasser RB, de Gruijter JM, Polderman AM (2006) Insights into the epidemiology and genetic make-up of Oesophagostomum bifurcum from human and non-human primates using molecular tools. Parasitology 132:453–460

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gasser RB, de Gruijter JM, Polderman AM (2009) The utility of molecular methods for elucidating primate-pathogen relationships - the Oesophagostomum bifurcum example. In: Huffman MA, Chapman CA (eds) Primate parasite ecology: the dynamics and study of host-parasite relationships. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 47–62

    Google Scholar 

  • Gillespie TR, Chapman CA, Greiner EC (2005) Effects of logging on gastrointestinal parasite infections and infection risk in African primates. J Appl Ecol 42:699–707

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goldberg TL, Gillespie TR, Rwego IB, Kaganzi C (2006) Killing of a pearl-spotted owlet (Glaucidium perlatum) by male red colobus monkeys (Procolobus tephrosceles) in a forest fragment near Kibale National Park, Uganda. Am J Primatol 68:1007–1011

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Goldberg TL, Chapman CA, Cameron K, Saj S, Karesh W, Wolfe N, Wong SW, Dubois ME, Slifka MK (2008a) Serologic evidence for a novel poxvirus in endangered red colobus monkeys. Emerg Infect Dis 14:801–803

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Goldberg TL, Gillespie TR, Rwego IB, Estoff EE, Chapman CA (2008b) Forest fragmentation as cause of bacterial transmission among primates, humans, and livestock, Uganda. Emerg Infect Dis 14:1375–1382

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Goldberg TL, Sintasath DM, Chapman CA, Cameron KM, Karesh WB, Tang S, Wolfe ND, Rwego IB, Ting N, Switzer WM (2009) Co-infection of Ugandan red colobus (procolobus [Piliocolobus] tephrosceles) with novel, divergent delta-, lenti-, and Spumaretroviruses (Rufomitratus tephrosceles) with three novel simian retroviruses. J Virol 83:11318–11329

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Goldberg TL, Paige S, Chapman CA (2012) The Kibale EcoHealth Project: exploring connections among human health, animal health, and landscape dynamics in western Uganda. In: Aguirre AA, Daszak P (eds) Conservation medicine: applied cases of ecological health. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 452–465

    Google Scholar 

  • Harcourt AH, Doherty DA (2005) Species-area relationships of primates in tropical forest fragments: a global analysis. J Appl Ecol 42:630–637

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hartter J, Southworth J (2009) Dwindling resources and fragmentation of landscapes around parks: wetlands and forest patches around Kibale National Park, Uganda. Landsc Ecol 24:643–656

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Houghton RA (1994) The worldwide extent of land-use change. Bioscience 44:305–313

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jacob AL, Vaccaro I, Sengupta R, Hartter J, Chapman CA (2008) How can conservation biology best prepare for declining rural population and ecological homogenization? Trop Conservat Sci 4:307–320

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnston AR, Gillespie TR, Rwego IB, Tranby McLachlan TL, Kent AD, Goldberg TL (2010) Molecular epidemiology of cross-species Giardia duodenalis transmission in western Uganda. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 4:e683

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lamb D, Erskin PD, Parrotta JA (2005) Restoration of degraded tropical forest landscapes. Science 310:1628–1632

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lande R (1995) Muttion and conservation. Conserv Biol 9:782–791

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Laurance WF, Bierregaard RO (1997) Tropical Forest remnants. University of Chicago Press, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Marsh LK (ed) (2003) Primates in fragments: ecology and conservation. Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Naughton L, Kammen DM, Chapman CA (2006) Burning biodiversity: woody biomass use by commercial and subsistence groups in western Uganda. Biodivers Conserv 34:232–241

    Google Scholar 

  • Naughton-Treves L (1999) Whose animals? A history of property rights to wildlife in Toro, western Uganda. Land Degrad Dev 10:311–328

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Onderdonk DA, Chapman CA (2000) Coping with forest fragmentation: the primates of Kibale National Park, Uganda. Int J Primatol 21:587–611

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Osmaston HA (1959) Working plan for the Kibale and Itwara Forests. Ugandan Forest Department, Entebbe

    Google Scholar 

  • Potts M (2007) Population and environment in the twenty-first century. Popul Environ 28:204–211

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pozo-Montuy G, Serio-Silva JC, Bonilla-Sanchez YM (2011) The influence of the matrix on the survival of arboreal primates in fragmented landscapes. Primates 52:139–147

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Salzer JS, Rwego IB, Goldberg TL, Kuhlenschmidt MS, Gillespie TR (2007) Giardia and Cryptosporidium s. infections in primates in fragmented and undisturbed forest in western Uganda. J Parasitol 93:439–440

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Skorupa JP (1988) The effect of selective timber harvesting on rain forest primates in Kibale Forest, Uganda. Disseration, University of California, CA

    Google Scholar 

  • Soule ME (1987) Viable populations for conservation. Cambridge University Press, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Struhsaker TT (1997) Ecology of an African rain forest: logging in Kibale and the conflict between conservation and exploitation. University Press of Florida, Gainesville

    Google Scholar 

  • Tutin CEG, White LJT, Mackanga-Missandzou A (1997) The use of rainforest mammals of natural forest fragments in an equatorial African savanna. Conserv Biol 11:1190–1203

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • United Nations (2009) World population prospects. United Nations, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson EO (1992) The diversity of life. Harvard University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Wolfe ND, Switzer WM, Carr JK, Bhullar VB, Shanmugam V, Tamoufe U, Prosser AT, Torimiro JN, Wright A, Mpoudi-Ngole E, McCutchan FE, Birx DL, Folks TM, Burke DS, Heneine W (2004) Naturally acquired simian retrovirus infections in central African hunters. Lancet 363:932–937

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wolfe ND, Heneine W, Carr JK, Garcia AD, Shanmugam V, Tamoufe U, Torimiro JN, Prosser AT, Lebreton M, Mpoudi-Ngole E, McCutchan FE, Birx DL, Folks TM, Burke DS, Switzer WM (2005) Emergence of unique primate T-lymphotropic viruses among central African bushmeat hunters. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 102:7994–7999

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

Funding for this research was provided by the Wildlife Conservation Society, National Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC, Canada) and the National Science Foundation (NSF, grant number SBR-9617664, SBR-990899) to CAC and the Morris Animal Foundation (award number D07ZO024) to TG. Permission to conduct this research was given by the Office of the President, Uganda, the National Council for Science and Technology, and the Uganda Wildlife Authority. Lauren Chapman and Tom Struhsaker provided helpful comments on this research.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology, McGill School of Environment, McGill University, 855 Sherbrooke St West, Montreal, QC, Canada, H3A 2T7

    Colin A. Chapman

  2. Department of Biology, McGill University, 1205 Dr. Penfield, Montreal, QC, Canada, H3A 1B1

    Ria Ghai & Aerin Jacob

  3. Makerere University Biological Field Station, 967, Fort Portal, Uganda

    Sam Mugume Koojo & Dennis Twinomugisha

  4. Investigador Titular A, ECOSUR-Campeche, Avenida Rancho s/n, Poligono 2, Lerma, Campeche, 24500El, Mexico

    Rafael Reyna-Hurtado

  5. Department of Anthropology, New York Consortium in Evolutionary Primatology, Hunter College of the City University of New York, 695 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10065, USA

    Jessica M. Rothman

  6. Department of Anthropology, McGill University, 855 Sherbrooke St West, Montreal, QC, Canada, H3A 2T7

    Michael D. Wasserman

  7. Department of Pathobiological Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, 53706, USA

    Tony L. Goldberg

Authors
  1. Colin A. Chapman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Ria Ghai
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Aerin Jacob
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Sam Mugume Koojo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Rafael Reyna-Hurtado
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Jessica M. Rothman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Dennis Twinomugisha
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Michael D. Wasserman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Tony L. Goldberg
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Colin A. Chapman .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Global Conservation Institute, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA

    Laura K. Marsh

  2. Department of Anthropology, McGill School of Environment, McGill University, Montreal, Québec, Canada

    Colin A. Chapman

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Chapman, C.A. et al. (2013). Going, Going, Gone: A 15-Year History of the Decline of Primates in Forest Fragments near Kibale National Park, Uganda. In: Marsh, L., Chapman, C. (eds) Primates in Fragments. Developments in Primatology: Progress and Prospects. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-8839-2_7

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation