Boi Tano Forest Reserve

West Africa > Ghana > Boi Tano Forest Reserve

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Summary

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• Western chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) may be present in Boi Tano Forest Reserve.
• No chimpanzees were recorded in the last survey.
• The chimpanzee population trend is decreasing.
• The site has a total size of 129 km².
• Key threats to chimpanzees are hunting and logging.
• Conservation activities are not documented.

Site characteristics

The reserve is located in southwestern Ghana, forming a continuous forest block with Tano Nimiri Forest Reserve in the northeast. It was declared a forest reserve in 1967 (Gatti 2009). The vegetation is mainly wet evergreen forest. Access to the reserve is difficult because of the many watercourses, with two main rivers, the Tano and the Bisao, crossing the reserve and resulting in much swamp habitat (BirdLife International 2022).

Table 1. Basic site information for Boi Tano Forest Reserve

Species	Pan troglodytes verus
Area	129 km²
Coordinates	Lat: 5.506396 , Lon: -2.638998
Type of site	Protected area (Forest Reserve)
Habitat types	Subtropical/tropical moist lowland forest
Type of governance

Types of sites Governance types Habitat types

Ape status

During a rapid survey in 2009, no signs of chimpanzees were documented; however, hunters reported chimpanzee sightings and signs, and a population may still exist in the contact zone between Tano-Nimiri and Boi Tano (Gatti 2009).

Table 2. Ape population estimates reported for Boi Tano 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 verus	2009		0			Boi Tano Forest Reserve	Reconnaissance walk		Gatti 2009	survey effort: 11.55 km

Sampling methods Analytical frameworks

Threats

Table 3. Threats to apes reported for Boi Tano Forest Reserve

Category	Specific threats	Threat level	Description	Year of threat
5 Biological resource use	5.3 Logging & wood harvesting	Present (unknown severity)	The entire reserve was under logging concession prior to its designation as a reserve in 1967; logging was last recorded in 1980 (BirdLife International 2022). The southern part of the reserve has been more heavily logged (Gatti 2009).	2009-Ongoing (2022)
5 Biological resource use	5.1 Hunting & collecting terrestrial animals	High (more than 70% of population affected)	High abundance of hunting signs and low encounter of mammal species, especially large (Gatti 2009).	Ongoing (2009)
2 Agriculture & aquaculture	2.1 Annual & perennial non-timber crops	Present (unknown severity)	There are a few authorised farms in the reserve (BirdLife International 2022).	Ongoing (2022)

Threats

Challenges

Table 5. Challenges reported for Boi Tano Forest Reserve

Challenges	Specific challenges	Source	Year(s)
	Not reported

Challenges

Enablers

Table 6. Enablers reported for Boi Tano 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 Boi Tano Forest Reserve

Category	Behavior	Observation type	Prevalence	Observation dates	Source	Habituation	Species	Comment
	Not reported

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 Boi Tano 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]	27	28	27.9	28.2	29.3
Annual precipitation [mm]	1453	1399	1456	1409	1480
Max no. consecutive dry days (per year)	26	21.9	23.8	23.3	24.4
No. days with heavy precipitation (per year)	6.8	6.2	7.1	6.5	8.8

Table 9. Projected exposure of apes to extreme climate impact events in Boi Tano 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	4.53	0.5	1.13	2	4.53	2.5	4.53
Drought	2.5	100	1.25	100	0.75	25	1.25	100
Heatwave	10.5	100	10.5	100	10	50	4.5	100
River flood	0.5	0.93	0.5	0.15	0.5	0.01	1	3.66
Tropical cyclone	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.5	0.67
Wildfire	30	0.29	30	0.27	29	0.3	29	0.28

References

BirdLife International (2022) Important Bird Areas factsheet: Boin Tano Forest Reserve. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 15/03/2022.

Gatti, S. (2009). Mammal surveys and capacity building for the Wildlife Wood Project - Ghana. Unpublished report to the WWP-Ghana.

Page created by: APES Atlas Team Date: 2022-03-18