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Altitudinal and Seasonal Variation in the Structure of Nocturnal Primate Assemblages on Mount Cameroon

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Abstract

Mountain ecosystems cover a large proportion of Earth and represent important environments for a range of different taxa, including nocturnal primates. This group of primates is generally understudied because of their small size and their cryptic and nocturnal nature. Thus, much of their ecology and distribution still remains unknown, especially in mountain ecosystems. We investigated the effects of altitude and seasonality (wet vs. dry season) on observed species richness and relative abundance of nocturnal primates across the diverse forest types of Mount Cameroon. Using standardized line and recce transect methodologies, we surveyed nocturnal primates at four altitudes (650 m.a.s.l., 1100 m.a.s.l., 1450 m.a.s.l., and 2200 m.a.s.l.) on the southwestern slope of the mountain. We recorded six species (four from the Galagidae family and two from the Lorisidae family). Our results indicate a decrease in primate abundance as altitude increases. We also found that primate species composition changes with altitude. However, species diversity (Shannon diversity) drops drastically only at the highest altitude and species richness (number of species) does not differ between sites at lower to mid-altitudes. There was no seasonality effect on primate diversity. Habitat features, such as temperature, resource availability, and vegetation structure likely play a relevant role in the distribution and diversity patterns of primates on Mount Cameroon.

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Acknowledgements

This project was supported by grants from The Rufford Foundation (grant number 20119-1 to Fominka T. Nestor), Conservation Action Research Network (CARN) and received material support from Idea Wild. NFC received a postdoctoral fellowship from the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior – CAPES (Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel; CAPES/PNPD). We thank Prof. Simon Bearder for confirming the identification of one of the species and Drs. Robert Tropek and Stepan Janecek of the Charles University in Prague for logistic support during field work. We are equally thankful to Kobe Ismael, Luma Francis, Teke Francis, Vincent Maicher, Njie Collins, and Yannick Klomberg for their help and collaboration in the field during data collection. We would like to thank the anonymous reviewers and the editor of the International Journal of Primatology for all the insightful comments that have made it possible to improve the quality of the initial manuscript.

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  1. Nestor T. Fominka and Hernani F. M. Oliveira contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Zoology and Animal Physiology, Faculty of Science, University of Buea, Buea, Cameroon

    Nestor T. Fominka & Eric B. Fokam

  2. Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA

    Hernani F. M. Oliveira

  3. Department of Ecology, University of Brasília, Brasília, Brazil

    Nicholas F. Camargo

  4. Department of Anthropology, University of North Carolina, Wilmington, NC, USA

    Carolyn A. Jost Robinson

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  1. Nestor T. Fominka
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  2. Hernani F. M. Oliveira
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Contributions

NTF, HFMO, and EBF originally formulated the idea, NTF and EBF developed methodology, NTF conducted fieldwork, NFC performed statistical analyses, and NTF, HFMO, NFC, CAJR, and EBF wrote the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Nestor T. Fominka or Eric B. Fokam.

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Fominka, N.T., Oliveira, H.F.M., Camargo, N.F. et al. Altitudinal and Seasonal Variation in the Structure of Nocturnal Primate Assemblages on Mount Cameroon. Int J Primatol 41, 714–731 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10764-020-00179-y

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