Kom Wum Forest Reserve

Central Africa > Cameroon > Kom Wum Forest Reserve

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Summary

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• Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes ellioti) are present in Kom Wum Forest Reserve.
• It has been estimated that 10 to 83 individuals occur in the site.
• The population trend is decreasing.
• The site has a total size of 80 km².
• Key threats include hunting, logging, extraction of non-timber forest products, and agricultural expansion.
• Conservation activities are not documented.

Site characteristics

The Kom-Wum Forest Reserve (KWFR) was created in 1951; it stretches across Boyo and Menchum divisions in northwestern Cameroon. The KWFR is surrounded by the villages Mughom and Bueni Bu, Mbengkas, Baiso and Mbongkissu (Fotang et al. 2021; Fotang et al. 2023a). The landscape is a mosaic of grassland and lowland-montane tropical forest. The site is characterized by primary forest, old secondary forest and grassland. It is home to seven diurnal primate species including putty-nosed monkey (Cercopithecus nictitans ludio), mona monkey (Cercopithecus mona), olive baboon (Papio anubis), tantalus monkey (Chlorocebus tantalus), patas monkey (Erythrocebus patas), and Preuss’s monkey (Allochrocebus preussi) and the Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzee (Fotang et al. 2023b).

Table 1. Basic site information for Kom Wum Forest Reserve

Species	Pan troglodytes ellioti
Area	80 km²
Coordinates	Lat: 6.278946 , Lon: 10.127542
Type of site	Protected area (Forest Reserve)
Habitat types	Subtropical/tropical moist montane forest, Subtropical/tropical moist lowland forest, Grassland
Type of governance

Types of sites Governance types Habitat types

Ape status

Using a combination of survey methods it was estimated that 10 (direct observation) to 83 (distance sampling) chimpanzees live in the area depending on the estimation method (Fotang et al. 2021).

Table 2. Ape population estimates reported for Kom Wum Forest Reserve

Species	Year	Occurrence	Encounter or vistation rate (nests/km; ind/day)	Density estimate [ind./ km²] (95% CI)	Abundance estimate (95% CI)	Survey area	Sampling method	Analytical framework	Source	Comments	A.P.E.S. database ID
Pan troglodytes ellioti	2018- 2019	Present				Kom Wum Forest Reserve	Line transects & recces		Fotang et al. 2023
Pan troglodytes ellioti	2018				10-83	Kom Wum Forest Reserve	Line transects, Other		Fotang et al. 2021	1) direct observation, 2) camera trapping, 3)distance sampling, 4) marked nest count, and 5) standing crop nest count, survey effort: 150 km.
Pan troglodytes ellioti	2015- 2016		11.29			Kom Wum Forest Reserve	Reconnaissance walk		Chuo et al. 2017	survey effort 42 km. Four chimpanzees were directly observed

Sampling methods Analytical frameworks

Threats

Based on an analysis of suitable chimpanzee habitat, the reserve is degraded and the population could go extinct unless immediate action is taken; currently, chimpanzees are confined to less than 10% of the area. The study found increasing chimpanzee occurrence with increasing elevation, secondary forest density, distance to villages and primary forest density. Hunting and forest degradation are the major threats to chimpanzees in the reserve (Fotang et al. 2023b).

Table 3. Threats to apes reported for Kom Wum Forest Reserve

Category	Specific threats	Threat level	Description	Year of threat
1 Residential & commercial development	1.1 Residential areas	High (more than 70% of population affected)	Habitat destruction for the creation of new settlements (Fotang et al. 2023b).	Ongoing (2023)
2 Agriculture & aquaculture	2.1 Annual & perennial non-timber crops	High (more than 70% of population affected)	The lowland areas (< 800 m) are often cultivated with rice and maize and suffer from logging (Fotang et al. 2023b).	Ongoing (2023)
2 Agriculture & aquaculture	2.3 Livestock farming & ranching	High (more than 70% of population affected)	Extensive cattle grazing and cattle rearing (Fotang et al. 2023b).	Ongoing (2023)
5 Biological resource use	5.1 Hunting & collecting terrestrial animals	High (more than 70% of population affected)	Illegal hunting with guns and trapping (Fotang et al. 2023b).	Ongoing (2023)
5 Biological resource use	5.2 Gathering terrestrial plants	High (more than 70% of population affected)	Harvesting of non-timber forest products (Fotang et al. 2023b).	Ongoing (2023)
5 Biological resource use	5.3 Logging & wood harvesting	High (more than 70% of population affected)	Timber harvesting (Fotang et al. 2023b).	Ongoing (2023)

Threats

Challenges

Table 5. Challenges reported for Kom Wum Forest Reserve

Challenges	Specific challenges	Source	Year(s)
	Not reported

Challenges

Enablers

Table 6. Enablers reported for Kom Wum Forest Reserve

Enablers	Specific enablers	Source	Year(s)
1 Site management
2 Resources and capacity
3 Engaged community
4 Institutional support
5 Ecological context
6 Safety and stability

Enablers

Documented behaviours

Table 7. Behaviours documented for Kom Wum Forest Reserve

Category	Behavior	Observation type	Prevalence	Observation dates	Source	Habituation	Species	Comment
	Ground nesting				Chuo et al. 2017
	Ant dipping				Chuo et al. 2017
	Ant digging				Chuo et al. 2017
	Crab clobber stones				Chuo et al. 2017

Behaviours

Exposure to climate change impacts

As part of a study on the exposure of African great ape sites to climate change impacts, Kiribou et al. subm. extracted climate data and data on projected extreme climate impact events for the site. Climatological characteristics were derived from observation-based climate data provided by the Inter-Sectoral Impact Model Intercomparison Project (ISIMIP, www.isimip.org). Parameters were calculated as the average across each 30-year period. For 1981-2010, the EWEMBI dataset from ISIMIP2a was used. For the two future periods (2021-2050 and 2071-2099) ISIMIP2b climate data based on four CMIP5 global climate models were used. For future projections, two Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) were used. RCP 2.6 is a scenario with strong mitigation measures in which global temperatures would likely rise below 2C. RCP 6.0 is a scenario with medium emissions in which global temperatures would likely rise up to 3C by 2100. For the number of days with heavy precipitation events, the 98th percentile of all precipitation days (>1mm/d) was calculated for the 1979-2013 reference period as a threshold for a heavy precipitation event. Then, for each year, the number of days above that threshold was derived. The figures on temperature and precipitation anomaly show the deviation from the mean temperature and mean precipitation for the 1979-2013 reference period.

The estimated exposure to future extreme climate impact events (crop failure, drought, river flood, wildfire, tropical cyclone, and heatwave) is based on a published dataset by Lange et al. 2020 derived from ISIMIP2b data. The same global climate models and RCPs as described above were used. Within each 30-year period, the number of years with an extreme event and the average proportion of the site affected were calculated (see Kiribou et al. subm. for details).

Table 8. Estimated past and projected climatological characteristics in Kom Wum Forest Reserve

Value	1981-2010	2021-2050, RCP 2.6	2021-2050, RCP 6.0	2071-2099, RCP 2.6	2071-2099, RCP 6.0
Mean temperature [C]	24.1	25.3	25.2	25.5	26.5
Annual precipitation [mm]	2493	2577	2582	2639	2656
Max no. consecutive dry days (per year)	22.5	10.2	9.7	8.6	11.6
No. days with heavy precipitation (per year)	6.7	8.6	8.7	8.9	10

Table 9. Projected exposure of apes to extreme climate impact events in Kom Wum Forest Reserve

Type	No. of years with event (2021-2050, RCP 2.6)	% of site exposed (2021-2050, RCP 2.6)	No. of years with event (2021-2050, RCP 6.0)	% of site exposed (2021-2050, RCP 6.0)	No. of years with event (2070-2099, RCP 2.6)	% of site exposed (2070-2099, RCP 2.6)	No. of years with event (2070-2099, RCP 6.0)	% of site exposed (2070-2099, RCP 6.0)
Crop failure	3	0	4.5	0.01	3.5	0	14	0.01
Drought	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Heatwave	1	50	0.5	50	3	50	4.5	100
River flood	1.5	0.77	2.5	6.25	1.5	3.79	4.25	2.82
Tropical cyclone	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Wildfire	29.75	0.25	30	0.28	29	0.27	29	0.3

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  Precipitation anomaly in Kom Wum Forest Reserve

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  Temperature anomaly in Kom Wum Forest Reserve

References

Chuo, M. D., Angwafo, T. E., Chefor, F., & Fru, B. S. (2017b). Estimation of chimpanzee’s (Pan troglodytes ellioti) abundance in the Kimbi-Fungum National Park and Kom-Wum Forest Reserve, Nw, Cameroon. Journal of Biodiversity Management and Forestry, 6(3), 20-30. DOI: 10.4172/2327-4417.1000185

Fotang, C., Bröring, U., Roos, C. et al. Mapping suitable habitat for Nigeria–Cameroon chimpanzees in Kom-Wum Forest Reserve, North-Western Cameroon. Primates (2023a). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10329- 023-01054-z

Fotang, C., Dutton, P., Bröring, U., Roos, C., Willie, J., Angwafo, T. E., ... & Birkhofer, K. (2023b). Tool use by Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzees for driver ant predation in Kom-Wum Forest Reserve, North-West Region Cameroon. Folia Primatologica, 1(aop), 1-13.

Fotang, C., Bröring, U., Roos, C. et al. Human Activity and Forest Degradation Threaten Populations of the Nigeria–Cameroon Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes ellioti) in Western Cameroon. Int J Primatol 42, 105–129 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10764-020-00191-2

Page created by: APES Atlas Team Date: 2023-02-24