Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) Population Spans Multiple Protected Areas in the Albertine Rift.

We used mitochondrial DNA to examine gene flow in a region of western Uganda that has received little attention regarding chimpanzee population dynamics. The area is critical to gene flow between isolated Democratic Republic of Congo populations and the rest of East Africa. None of the chimpanzees in each of the 4 protected areas under consideration (Toro-Semliki Wildlife Reserve, Semuliki National Park, Rwenzori Mountains National Park and Itwara Central Forest Reserve) are fully habituated. Therefore, it is not clear whether one or more populations have historically used this fragmented landscape for (1) regular ranging and/or (2) infrequent dispersal. We incorporated the published sequences of the first hypervariable region of the D-loop of the mitochondrial genome from 3 previously sampled sites (n = 39) while also contributing the first extensive genetic sampling of chimpanzees in Toro-Semliki (n = 80). Our goal was to generate a historical baseline model of metapopulation dynamics in this region and determine which, if any, of these protected areas forms a fragmented landscape for a single chimpanzee population. According to a discriminant analysis of principal components, the haplotypes at Toro-Semliki form a central cluster, and Itwara is its nearest genetic neighbor. Rwenzori Mountains National Park is the most distant neighbor of all protected areas. We performed an analysis of molecular variance for 14 different population models that divided the samples from the 4 protected areas into 2, 3 or 4 populations. The best fit model included 3 populations: Toro-Semliki Wildlife Reserve and Itwara Forest Reserve comprised a single population; Semuliki National Park and Rwenzori Mountains National Park formed 2 additional separate populations (variance among = 9%, p = 0.014). The results indicated that some protected areas comprised distinctive populations, while others formed a fragmented landscape for a population's ranging for foraging purposes. Therefore, the edges of a protected area do not always define a chimpanzee population. We propose a closer examination of those dynamics through renewed sampling. Advances in DNA extraction and next-generation sequencing will allow us to compare thousands of single nucleotide polymorphisms in the genomes of unhabituated chimpanzees living in each of these protected areas.

Conditional rehabilitation of cooperation under strategic uncertainty.

In order to address the topic of the tragedy of the commons, more specifically that of tropical forest ecosystems explored as common-pool resources endowed with public-good features and exposed to deforestation risks, we consider game-theoretic population dynamics contingent on various differential equations. We propose an evolutionary model handed down to the Price theorem of selection. In a set of model-players evolving in strategic uncertainty and subject to certain mutation toward cooperation, the Price equation evens out unstructured and structured population replicator dynamics. According to the model outputs, avoiding the tragedy of the commons can be achieved on condition that half of the population temporarily exhibits a cooperative behavior. Furthermore, cooperative model-players ought to be rewarded at a level equivalent to the joint selection of cooperators and competitors issued from the unifying Price identity.

Efeitos da exploração madeireira de baixo impacto sobre uma comunidade de aves de sub-bosque na Floresta Nacional do Tapajós, Pará, Brasil / Effects of low impact selective logging on an understory bird community in the Tapajós National Forest, Pará, Brazil

Este estudo compara a resposta de uma comunidade aves à exploração madeireira de baixo impacto através da distribuição das espécies em floresta controle e manejada ao longo de cinco anos com amostragem pré e pós-exploração. O procedimento de ordenação mostrou que a similaridade da comunidade de aves após a exploração madeireira foi menor que a similaridade entre as amostras do período de pré-exploração. Além disso, a ordem das abundâncias das 43 espécies mais comuns foi alterada entre o período anterior à exploração e 3 a 4 anos após a exploração na floresta manejada. A exploração afetou as taxas de captura de 20 espécies, diretamente ou através de uma interação com o tempo. Os insetívoros terrícolas e os insetívoros que seguem bandos mistos foram as guildas mais afetadas pela exploração madeireira. Ambas as guildas mostraram declínio, correlacionado com o tempo, em suas abundâncias em floresta manejada. Insetívoros seguidores de formigas e insetívoros arborícolas não apresentaram diferenças entre a floresta manejada e controle, apesar de algumas espécies dessas guildas terem apresentado efeitos relacionados ao manejo florestal, diretamente ou através de uma interação entre o tempo e o manejo. Frugívoros também não apresentaram efeitos significativos relacionados ao manejo florestal. Nectarívoros aumentaram tanto na floresta explorada como na floresta controle. Efeitos temporais de aumento ou declínio observados em guildas e em 12 espécies ocorreram tanto na floresta controle como na floresta explorada. Este resultado sugere que mudanças temporais na área explorada podem estar relacionadas à sucessão enquanto que mudanças temporais na floresta controle podem estar relacionados à exploração com intensidade de 40m³/ha de parcelas adjacentes.

This study compares the avian response to low impact selective logging by comparing bird species distribution in control and cut forest during five years, with before and post-harvest samples. Ordination analysis showed that the similarity of the bird community post-harvest was lesser than the similarity of samples before harvest. Moreover, the order of abundances of the 43 most common species changed between before and 3 to 4 years post-harvest in the logged forest. Logging affected capture rates for 20 species, either directly or with an interaction with time. The terrestrial insectivorous and mixed-species flocks were the guilds most affected by logging. Both guilds showed decline, correlated with time, in abundances in cut forest. Obligate army ant followers and arboreal insectivorous did not show differences between cut and control forest, but some species in these guilds showed logging effects, either directly or with an interaction between time and logging. Frugivores also did not show logging effects. Nectarivores increased in both the cut forest and in the control forest. Temporal effects of increase or decline occurred in guilds and in 12 species occurring in the cut and control forest. This result suggests that temporal changes in the cut forest may have resulted from succession and temporal changes in the control forest may have resulted from nearby harvest with 40m³/ha intensity in adjacent forest blocks.