Abstract
Non-human primates face major environmental changes due to increased human impacts all over the world. Although some species are able to survive in certain landscapes with anthropogenic impact, their long-term viability and fitness may be decreased due to chronic stress. Here we assessed long-term stress levels through cortisol analysis in chimpanzee hair obtained from sleeping nests in northwestern Uganda, in order to estimate welfare in the context of ecotourism, forest fragmentation with human-wildlife conflicts, and illegal logging with hunting activity (albeit not of primates), compared with a control without human contact or conflict. Concerning methodological issues, season [F(2,129) = 37.4, p < 0.0001, r2 = 0.18] and the age of nests [F(2,178) = 20.3, p < 0.0001, r2 = 0.11] significantly predicted hair cortisol concentrations (HCC). With regard to effects of anthropogenic impacts, our results neither showed elevation of HCC due to ecotourism, nor due to illegal logging compared to their control groups. We did, however, find significantly increased HCC in the fragment group compared to chimpanzees living in a nearby intact forest [F(1,88) = 5.0, p = 0.03, r2 = 0.20]. In conclusion, our results suggest that hair cortisol analysis is a powerful tool that can help understanding the impact of anthropogenic disturbances on chimpanzee well-being and could be applied to other great ape species.
Highlights
Today, non-human primates face anthropogenic impacts of various kinds and the question how well and under which circumstances they can cope with human influence is of central importance for conservation programs
Measuring Hair Cortisol Concentrations in Wild Chimpanzees stressors and plays a crucial role in enhancing catabolism in order to increase energy availability for the organism to cope with a stressor, while simultaneously decreasing anabolic pathways that are not essential for the immediate survival [4]
The same result was obtained when only new nests were included into the analysis [F(1,33) = 8.1, p < 0.01, r2 = 0.20]. This is the first study that uses hair cortisol concentrations from shed chimpanzee hairs recovered from their nests to estimate long-term stress levels in response to anthropogenic impacts in wild chimpanzees, considering habituated as well as unhabituated animals
Summary
Non-human primates face anthropogenic impacts of various kinds and the question how well and under which circumstances they can cope with human influence is of central importance for conservation programs. Conservation research aims at identifying the severity of anthropogenic impacts on primate behavior, health and physiology [1,2]. The glucocorticoid hormone (GC) cortisol is secreted into the blood stream in response to various physiological or psychological. Increased cortisol secretion enables the organism to cope with short-term stressors. Elevated cortisol secretion over prolonged periods of time severely reduces individual fitness due to decreased immune response [5,6], the dysfunction of various organs [7,8], increased male and female infertility [9,10], and reduced growth [11]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
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 callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
