Abstract
Land-use change is the main driver of habitat loss and fragmentation for primates, resulting in declines in species diversity and population size. The Gishwati-Mukura landscape in Rwanda, home to endemic and threatened primate species, is characterized by heavily degraded and fragmented forest fragments, including one remnant tropical montane forest, one restored forest, and several forests planted in the mid-1980s with exotic species. A landscape restoration project was launched in 2014 to restore and protect this landscape and improve human wellbeing. From June to August 2019, we assessed the use of remnant, restored, and exotic forest patches by primates in this landscape. Using 15 line transects and 7 reconnaissance surveys, we compared distribution and abundance of Endangered golden monkeys (Cercopithecus mitis kandti), Vulnerable L’Hoest’s monkeys (Allochrocebus lhoesti), and Endangered eastern chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthi) between remnant tropical montane forest and restored forest and ascertained the presence of primates in planted forest patches in the Gishwati-Mukura landscape. We interviewed farmers (N = 97) to assess the frequency of human-primate conflicts associated with the remnant and restored forests. We found that all three primate species occupied the remnant tropical montane forest, chimpanzees and golden monkeys occurred in the restored forest, and only golden monkeys inhabited the exotic planted forest fragments. For all three species, encounter rates were higher in the remnant tropical montane forest than in the restored and planted forest fragments. The restored forest provided additional habitat for primates, and efforts to restore degraded forest appear to have reduced conflicts between communities and primates.
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Acknowledgements
Much of the work was funded through a collaborative agreement between the Rwanda Environment Management Authority and the Center of Excellence in Biodiversity and Natural Resource Management at University of Rwanda which supported impact research in the Landscape Approach to Forest Restoration and Conservation (LAFREC) project. The authors are grateful to the University of Rwanda’s Center of Excellence in Biodiversity and Natural Resource Management (UR-CoEB), which managed this project, organized, and coordinated the training and workshops, and managed the financial and reporting aspects with REMA. Further funding was provided by The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund. They are grateful to field assistants namely Noel Turikumwe, and Rwamucyo Rudacogora who helped in making this study feasible. They thank Dr. Eric Rexstad for guidance on data analysis using DISTANCE software, and anonymous reviewers and editors of this revised manuscript.
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DT conceived and designed the study, helped in data collection, data analysis, interpretation, and manuscript writing; WE and DC helped in results interpretation, and manuscript writing; MN helped with field data collection and data entry; BAK contributed to the design of the study, helped in results interpretation, and manuscript writing. All authors provided comments and approved the final manuscript.
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Tuyisingize, D., Eckardt, W., Caillaud, D. et al. Forest Landscape Restoration Contributes to the Conservation of Primates in the Gishwati-Mukura Landscape, Rwanda. Int J Primatol 43, 867–884 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10764-022-00303-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10764-022-00303-0