New research examines the areas where chimpanzees have sought refuge from climate change over the past 120,000 year. Credit: Emma Stokes/WCS
New research provides insights into how Pan troglodytes, chimpanzees, avoided climate instability in Africa during interglacial and glacial periods over the past 120,000 year. The study used bioclimatic variables as well as other data to identify previously unknown habitat areas rich in figs or palms where chimps experienced the changes since the Last Interglacial period.
These findings were published in the American Journal of Primatology. They help increase our understanding of climate change's impact on biodiversity and provide a roadmap for how we can mitigate future biodiversity loss. The German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research, the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and an international team consisting of more than 80 collaborators from various research institutes around the world led this research.
The authors used over 130,000 records of chimpanzee occurrences in the A.P.E.S. to conduct their analysis. Database of the International Union for Conservation of Nature Species Survival Commission Species Survival Commission (SSC) and data from Pan African Programme: Cultured Chimpanzee (PanAf), at the MPI -EVA, and iDiv in Leipzig.
Researchers used species distribution models to determine chimpanzee habitat suitability. These models were based on data from climate, chimpanzee occurrences, and human density. They then projected these models onto temporal climate reconstructions at intervals up to 1000 years, which date back to the Last Interglacial period (120,000 year ago). They were able to create a dynamic model of habitat suitability that can be used over time. This allows for long-term stability (i.e. Calculation of glacial refugia
The results show that chimpanzees may have underestimated the importance of Africa's glacial refugia. There are potentially up to 60,000 square kilometers (23.166 sq miles) in the Upper Guinea Forests in West Africa and Central Africa and in the Albertine Rift.
Additionally, the results give clear insights into chimpanzee habitat over time. This allows for future testing of hypotheses about how global change may have affected behavioral and genetic diversity.
Chris Barratt (postdoctoral researcher at iDiv), was the lead author of this study. "By integrating past temperature and human density estimates as well as species richness in keystone tropical plants, figs, and palms, this study provides strong evidence that glacial refugia are for chimpanzees being more geographically than previously thought." These refugia may be worthy of higher protection than they currently get, as they are crucial for species and populations to survive during periods of global warming.
These results are a valuable resource to understand patterns of behavioral and genetic diversity in chimpanzees. Chimpanzees have high levels of genetic diversity, such as lower levels in West Africa, higher in East Africa, and higher in Central Africa. They also display high levels behavioral differentiation due to the environmental variability they experience, including Pleistocene forests refugia.
Hjalmar Khl, senior author at iDiv, said, "We only begin to understand how past environmental change has influenced the diversity of great apes that we see today." This will help us to understand when variables are engines of diversification. These insights will provide insight into the evolution of our species through their study."
Fiona Maisels, co-author of the study and Wildlife Conservation Society, stated that "To conserve chimpanzees (and all other species) over the coming centuries, it is crucial to understand the past." The planet's climate is changing rapidly thanks to human activity. These methods are essential for predicting how future changes will impact wildlife abundance and distribution and for providing space and safety to a variety of species.
More information: Christopher D. Barratt et. al. Quantitative estimates of glacial refugea for chimpanzees - Pan troglodytes - since the Last Interglacial (120,000 BP), American Journal of Primatology (2021). Information from American Journal of Primatology Christopher D. Barratt et. al. Quantitative estimates of glacial refugea for chimpanzees(Pan troglodytes ), since the Last Interglacial (120,000 BP), (2021). DOI: 10.1002/ajp.23320
