While human disturbance and food availability are two major factors
thought to determine primate abundance, evidence for their importance
is uneven. In this study, I assessed the effects of disturbance and
food availability on three primate species:
Cercopithecus mitis (blue monkeys),
Cercopithecus ascanius
(redtail monkeys) and
Colobus guereza
(eastern black and white colobus monkeys), in Kakamega Forest, western
Kenya. The study was conducted in four different areas of the forest,
all found in the southern part where disturbance levels are higher.
Group densities of blue monkeys and black-and-white colobus are higher
in areas where disturbance levels are also higher. This was not true
for redtails for whom disturbance does not seem to have an effect on
group densities.
Food availability, measured by basal area density of food trees, did
not correlate with the group densities of any of the three monkeys.
There are several reasons why the basal area density I calculated may
not accurately have reflected food availability, obscuring a real
relationship. The diversity of food trees, another potential measure of
food abundance, did correlate with group densities of blue monkeys and
colobus, and the correlation suggests that the availability of food may
positively influence monkey density. Group densities of redtails did
not correlate with diversity of food trees, or any other variable
examined suggesting that factors other than those considered in this
study, such as disease, may have influenced the abundance of this
species particularly.
Christos completed his Ph.D. at Imperial College (London) in 2012. He
is currently Associate Professor at Guanxi University, China.
Publication from Master's research:
- Mammides, C., Cords, M. & Peters, M. 2008.
Effects of habitat disturbance and food supply on population densities
of three primate species in the Kakamega Forest, Kenya. African
Journal of Ecology 47: 87-96.
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