The relative use of abandoned farm clearings and old forest habitats by primates and a forest antelope at Tiwai, Sierra leone, West Africa

Abstract

West Africa's high canopy forests have largely been replaced by a mosaic of active and abandoned agricultural fields. Use of the regenerating habitats by local fauna has not been well documented. I investigated the relative value of young successional forests, aged 5–12 years, and high forest, to primates and ungulates at Tiwai in West Africa. Four primates, Cercopithecus campbelli, Cercopithecus petaurista, Cercocebus atys, and Pan troglodytes, selected regrowth habitats more often than expected, and three primates, Cercopithecus diana, Colobus polykomos, and Procolobus badius, selected high forest habitat. The Maxwell's duiker Cephalophus monticola used both habitats equally. The Cercopithecus spp. exhibited seasonal fluctuations in abundance in the two habitats, presumably in response to different fruit availabilities. The old forest supported a greater diversity and biomass of primates per unit area compared to regrowth habitats. The high forest was more valuable to the primate community, but young forests were also used by resident fauna, suggesting potential for management as wildlife habitat.