Abstract
Even though information on global biodiversity trends becomes increasingly available, large taxonomic and spatial data gaps persist at the scale relevant to planning conservation interventions. This is because data collectors are hesitant to share data with global repositories due to workload, lack of incentives, and perceived risk of losing intellectual property rights. In contrast, due to greater conceptual and methodological proximity, taxon-specific database initiatives can provide more direct benefits to data collectors through research collaborations and shared authorship. The IUCN SSC Ape Populations, Environments and Surveys (A.P.E.S.) database was created in 2005 as a repository for data on great apes and other primate taxa. It aims to acquire field survey data and make different types of data accessible, and provide up-to-date species status information. To support the current update of the conservation action plan for western chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) we compiled field surveys for this taxon from IUCN SSC A.P.E.S., 75% of which were unpublished. We used spatial modeling to infer total population size, range-wide density distribution, population connectivity and landscape-scale metrics. We estimated a total abundance of 52 800 (95% CI 17 577–96 564) western chimpanzees, of which only 17% occurred in national parks. We also found that 10% of chimpanzees live within 25 km of four multi-national ‘development corridors’ currently planned for West Africa. These large infrastructure projects aim to promote economic integration and agriculture expansion, but are likely to cause further habitat loss and reduce population connectivity. We close by demonstrating the wealth of conservation-relevant information derivable from a taxon-specific database like IUCN SSC A.P.E.S. and propose that a network of many more such databases could be created to provide the essential information to conservation that can neither be supplied by one-off projects nor by global repositories, and thus are highly complementary to existing initiatives.
Highlights
In conservation planning there is an increasing need for detailed information on the density distribution of species, population trends, and habitat suitability to support evidence-based decision-making (Schwartz et al 2018)
We estimated that 7.66% of western chimpanzees range in high-level protected areas as of 2015
Since several new national parks have been created for the protection of western chimpanzees, e.g. Boé and Dulombi (Guinea-Bissau), and Gola and Grebo-Krahn (Liberia), while Moyen Bafing (Guinea) is currently being created
Summary
In conservation planning there is an increasing need for detailed information on the density distribution of species, population trends, and habitat suitability to support evidence-based decision-making (Schwartz et al 2018). To derive these parameters different types of data are needed across large areas, an extent that usually exceeds the scope of individual research projects. Impediments to data sharing include first and foremost a lack of perceived benefit, workload, and concern of losing intellectual property (Thessen and Patterson 2011). These data need to be centralized, standardized, and quality checked, whilst assuring data collectors of their intellectual property rights (Reichman et al 2011, Thessen and Patterson 2011, Costello et al 2013)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
