Conservation in the 21st Century: Gorillas as a Case Study (eBook)

Introduction 6
List of Contributors 8
Contents 14
Chapter 1 17
Current Status of Wild Gorilla Populations and Strategies for Their Conservation 17
1. Introduction 17
2. Gorilla Nomenclature and Systematics 17
3. Geographical Ranges for All Gorilla Populations 19
4. Methods for Determining Distribution and Abundance and Sources of Error 21
4.1. Distribution 22
4.2. Abundance 23
4.3. Abundance Estimates and Associated Errors 24
5. Grauer’s Gorillas: A Case Study on Distribution and Abundance 26
5.1. Status of Grauer’s Gorillas: 1959 26
5.2. Status of Grauer’s Gorillas: 1996 26
5.3. Challenges with Determining Distribution 27
5.4. Abundance Estimates for Grauer’s Gorillas: 1996 28
5.5. Distribution and Abundance for Grauer’s Gorillas in the Tayna Sector: 2002–2004 29
5.6. Challenges with Determining Abundance 32
5.7. Summary of Case Study 32
6. Current Status of Eastern Gorillas 34
6.1. The Virunga and Bwindi Populations 34
6.2. Threats to the Bwindi and Virunga Gorillas 35
6.3. Grauer’s Gorilla 36
6.4. Threats to Grauer’s Gorillas 41
7. Current Status of Western Gorillas 43
7.1. The Cross River and Ebo Populations 43
7.2. Western Lowland Gorillas 44
7.3. Threats to Western Lowland Gorillas 46
8. Which Gorilla Populations are Most at Risk? 47
8.1. Cross River, Virunga, and Bwindi Gorillas 47
8.2. Western Lowland and Grauer’s Gorillas 48
9. Formulating a Strategy for Gorilla Conservation 51
9.1. Address the Gaps in Knowledge on Distribution and Abundance of Gorillas 51
9.2. Gorilla Conservation in the Context of “Landscape Conservation” 53
9.3. Gorilla Conservation and Multidisciplinary Training and Teamwork 58
9.5. Gorillas as a Focal Species 59
10. Conclusions and Recommendations 60
References 63
Chapter 2 69
Conservation Medicine for Gorilla Conservation 69
1. Introduction 69
2. Health Objectives Common to all Gorilla Subspecies 70
3. Health Management and Conservation Medicine Practices for Gorillas 70
3.1. Large Versus Small Gorilla Population Health Management 70
3.2. Health Management of the Western Lowland Gorilla 71
3.3. Health Management of the Mountain Gorilla 72
3.4. Clinical Medicine of Mountain Gorillas 72
3.5. Pathology 75
3.5.1. Clinical Pathology 75
3.5.2. Gross Examination and Histopathology 75
4. Human Disease as a Threat to Gorilla Survival 77
4.1. Groups of Humans Posing Potential Disease Threat 78
4.1.1. Conservation Workers 78
4.1.2. Tourists 79
4.1.3. Local Human Communities 80
4.1.4. Illegal Activities of Local Populations 81
5. Domestic Animal Disease as a Threat to Gorilla Survival 82
6. Habituation of Gorillas for Tourism 83
7. Orphaned Ape Health Management 83
8. Biological Resource Center 85
9. Standardized Health Monitoring Systems for Gorillas 86
10. Summary 87
11. Authorship 87
References 87
Chapter 3 91
Sanctuaries and Reintroduction A Role in Gorilla Conservation? 91
1. Introduction 91
1.1. The What and Where of In Situ Gorilla Sanctuaries 92
1.1.1. The Limbe Wildlife Centre (LWC), Cameroon 93
1.1.2. Cameroon Wildlife Aid Fund (CWAF), Cameroon 93
1.1.3. Projet de Protection des Gorilles (PPG), Republic of Congo 93
1.1.4. Projet de Protection des Gorilles (PPG), Gabon 94
2. The Role of Sanctuaries in Gorilla Conservation 94
2.1. Law Enforcement 95
2.2. Conservation by Education 95
2.2.1. Case Study—The Limbe Wildlife Centre 97
2.2.1.1. On-site education 97
2.2.1.2. Outreach programs 98
2.3. Captive Breeding of Endangered Species 100
2.4. Reintroduction 101
2.4.1. Selecting the Release Site 103
2.4.2. Prerelease Training 104
2.4.3. Numbers Released and Survivorship 106
2.4.3.1. PPG Congo 106
2.4.3.2. PPG Gabon 109
2.4.4. Reintroduction and Its Contribution to Gorilla Conservation 109
2.4.4.1. Establishment of a Viable, Self-sustaining Population and Enhancing the Long-Term Survival of a Species? 110
2.4.4.2. Maintaining and/or Restoring Natural Biodiversity? 110
2.4.4.3. Long-Term Economic Benefits to the Localand/or National Economy? 111
2.4.4.4. Promotion of Conservation Awareness? 112
3. Conclusion 112
References 114
Chapter 4 119
1. Introduction 119
2. Tourism Trends and Sustainability Issues 120
3. Gorilla Tourism during Times of Crisis 121
4. The Economics of Gorilla Tourism 123
4.1. Potential Economic Benefits of Gorilla Tourism 123
4.2. Economic Costs of the Habituation Process and Infrastructure 124
5. “New”Western Lowland Gorilla Tourism Sites 125
6. Evidence for Potential Threats to Gorillas from Tourism 126
6.1. The Habituation Process as a Potential Threat to Gorillas 126
6.2. Disease Transmission as a Potential Threat to Gorillas 127
6.3. Tourist Purchases as a Potential Threat to Gorillas 129
7. Strategies to Minimize Potential Threats to Gorillas 130
7.1. Minimizing the Potential for Human–Gorilla Conflict as a Result of the Habituation Process 131
7.2. Minimizing the Potential for Disease Transmission and Inappropriate Tourist Purchases 131
7.3. Other Strategies for Protecting Gorillas 132
8. Conclusion 132
References 134
Chapter 5 140
Chimpanzee Conservation and Theatre: A Case Study of an Awareness Project Around the Taï National Park, Côte d’Ivoire 140
1. Introduction 140
2. Content of the Play 142
2.1. Protagonists 142
2.2. The Drama 142
3. Effectiveness of the Play 143
4. Conclusion 145
5. Postscript 146
References 146
Chapter 6 148
The Value of Long-Term Research: The Mountain Gorilla as a Case Study 148
1. Introduction 148
2. Benefits of Short-Term Versus Long-Term Research 149
3. Scientific Benefits 151
3.1. Recording of Rare Events 151
3.2. Accurate Life History Data 152
3.3. Stimulate and Facilitate Research 158
4. Additional Benefits: Conservation and Economic 163
5. Discussion and Conclusions 164
References 167
Chapter 7 172
The Art and Zen of Camera Trapping 172
1. Introduction 172
2. Camera Traps 173
3. Site Selection 174
4. Protocol 177
5. Data Analysis 178
5.1. Statistical Method 178
5.2. Occupancy Rates of Nontarget Species 179
6. Camera Trapping in the Virunga Volcanoes Region 179
7. Common Problems and their Solutions 179
8. Art and Zen 180
References 181
Chapter 8 182
An Experiment in Managing the Human Animal: The PHVA Process and Its Role in Conservation Decision-Making 182
1. Introduction 182
2. A Brief History of the PHVA Workshop 183
3. Expanding the PHVA Process: The Biodiversity Research Network 186
4. The Mountain Gorilla PHVA Workshop 188
5. The Future of the Expanded PHVA Process 194
References 195
Chapter 9 198
Approaches to Corridor Planning: Transitioning TAMARIN from Mata Atlantica to Madagascar 198
1. Introduction 198
2. The TAMARIN Approach to Planning 200
2.1. Inputs 201
2.2. Outputs 201
2.3. Process 202
3. Characterizing the Context and Corridor Planning Goals: Identifying the Appropriate Questions 202
3.1. Biophysical Context 203
3.2. Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Agenda 204
3.3. Land Tenure and Conservation Mechanisms 205
4. Setting Biodiversity Conservation Targets 206
5. Developing the Information Layers 207
5.1. Land Cover/Use layer 207
5.2. Business as Usual (BAU) Layer 208
6. Presenting the Results 210
7. Conclusions 211
References 212
Chapter 10 214
Linking the Community OptionsAnalysis and Investment Toolkit(COAIT), Consensys® and Paymentfor Environmental Services (PES):A Model to Promote Sustainability in African Gorilla Conservation 214
1. Importance of Communities for Gorilla Conservation 216
2. The Need for an Innovative Approach 217
3. The CCP Model 218
4. How COAIT can Contribute to Gorilla Conservation 219
5. Incentives: Why Payment for Environmental Services (PES) is Needed and How it Fits into the CCP Model 223
5.1. Payments for Environmental Services 225
5.2. Mgahinga Gorilla National Park: A Case of Insufficient Match Between Costs and Incentives 226
5.3. Central Challenges in Adapting PES for Use in Gorilla Conservation 227
6. What is Consensys® and How Does it Fit in the CCP Model? 228
7. CCP: Integrating COAIT, PES and Consensys® in Gorilla Conservation 232
8. Conclusions 232
9. List of Acronyms 234
References 235
Chapter 11 237
An Integrated Geomatics Research Program for Mountain Gorilla Behavior and Conservation 237
1. Background 237
1.1. Introduction 237
1.2. Study Site and Subjects 238
1.3. Project Objectives 240
1.4. A Geomatics Approach to Conservation 240
2. Data Sources and Processing Methods 241
2.1. Habitat GIS 242
2.1.1. Cartographic Data 242
2.1.2. Global Positioning System (GPS) Data 243
2.2. Digital Elevation Model (DEM) 244
2.3. Vegetation Classification 244
2.3.1. Satellite Imagery 244
2.3.2. Space Radar 247
2.3.4. Aerial Photography 249
2.3.5. Hyperspectral Imagery 249
2.3.6. GPS and Visualizations 250
2.4. Gorilla Ranging 250
2.4.1. GPS Data 250
2.4.2. Fossey Maps 251
2.5. Human Activity Data Sources 251
2.5.1. Anti-poaching Records and GPS 251
3. Analysis and Results 252
3.1. Virunga Habitat GIS 252
3.2. Gorilla Ranging Behavior 252
4. Discussion 255
4.1. Future Directions 257
References 260
Chapter 12 262
Biomaterials in Gorilla Research and Conservation 262
1. Introduction 262
2. Health and Nutrition 263
3. Morphology 264
4. Genetics 265
5. Reproductive Biology 266
6. Population Biology 267
7. Education 267
8. Banking and Biomaterials 268
9. Summary and Conclusions 268
References 269
Chapter 13 278
Transboundary Conservation in the Virunga-Bwindi Region 278
1. Introduction 278
2. Transboundary Conservation and Development: Phases and Emphasis 279
2.1. Mechanisms Established for Transboundary Collaboration 281
2.1.2. Regional-Level Ecological Monitoring and Management 282
2.1.3. Economic Mechanisms 283
3. Achievements and Effects 285
4. Lessons Learned 285
4.1. Top Down Versus Bottom Up 286
4.2. Transboundary Conservation as a Continuum of Strategies 286
4.3. Measuring the Impact of Transboundary Collaboration 287
References 288
Chapter 14 289
The Great Ape World Heritage Species Project 289
1. Introduction 289
2. The Severity of the Problem 290
3. The High Value of Apes 292
4. The Benefits of a Higher Profile for the Great Apes 292
5. The Benefits of an International Treaty 293
6. The Need for an International Institution Overseeing Great Ape Conservation 295
7. The Value Problem in Conservation 296
8. The Development of GAWHSP, January 2001 to January 2003 298
9. Addendum 299
References 300
Chapter 15 303
Conservation Through Scientific Collaboration: Case Study-Western-gorilla.org 303
1. Introduction 303
2. Case-Study-Western-gorilla.org 304
2.1. Current Status of Western Gorilla Populations 304
2.2. Current Status of Western Gorilla Field Research 305
2.3. Participating Research Sites 306
2.4. Objectives of the Workshop 311
2.4.1. What Do We Need to Know in Order to Protect Western Gorillas? 311
2.3.2. What Type of Information Is Available? 312
2.3.2.1. Resource availability 312
2.3.2.2. Habitat utilization 313
2.3.2.3. Population structure and demography 313
2.3.2.4. Population size 313
2.3.2.5. Threats 313
2.3.3. What Recommendations Can Be Made Based upon Current Information? 313
2.4. Next Steps-Implementing an Effective Conservation Strategy 314
3. Summary 315
4. Postscript 316
References 318
Chapter 16 322
Zoos and Conservation: Moving Beyond a Piecemeal Approach 322
1. The Contribution of AZA Institutions to Gorilla Conservation 322
1.1. Contributions to Eastern Gorilla Conservation 323
1.2. Contributions to Western Gorilla Conservation 326
1.3. Are Zoos Making a Difference? 326
1.4. A New Approach to Zoo-Based Conservation 330
References 333
Chapter 17 334
The Bushmeat Crisis Task Force (BCTF) 334
1. Bushmeat and BCTF 334
2. Bushmeat and Great Apes 337
2.1. Ethical Perspectives 337
2.2. Cultural Perspectives 338
2.3. Economic Perspectives 339
2.4. Ecological Perspectives 340
2.5. Political Perspectives 340
2.6. Scientific and Health Perspectives 341
3. Bushmeat, Apes, and BCTF 342
3.1. Information Sharing 342
3.2. Protected Areas 343
3.3. Linkages with Private Industry 343
3.4. International Policy Development 344
3.5. Professional Training and Capacity Building 345
3.6. Public Awareness 345
4. Conclusions 346
References 347
Author Index 352
Subject Index 360