Summary

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Central chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes troglodytes) & western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) are present in Monte Alén National Park.
The population sizes are unknown.
The great ape population trend is unknown.
The site has a total size of 2,000 km².
Key threats to great apes are hunting, logging, and habitat loss due to agricultural expansion.
Conservation activities are not reported.

Site characteristics

Established in 1990, Monte Alén National Park is located in Equatorial Guinea. The size of the park was doubled in 1998 with the inclusion of Mount Mitra, and in 2000 another section to the south was added (BirdLife International 2020). Since 1992, the European-Union-funded ECOFAC program has been involved in the management of the park (Cadecott & Miles 2005).

Table 1. Basic site information for Monte Alén National Park

Species	Pan troglodytes troglodytes, Gorilla gorilla gorilla
Area	2,000 km²
Coordinates	Lat: 1.533574 , Lon: 10.126031
Type of site	Protected area (National Park)
Habitat types	Subtropical/tropical moist lowland forest
Type of governance	Governance by government

Types of sites Governance types Habitat types

Ape status

The site has been identified as a priority area for gorillas and chimpanzees in Equatorial Guinea, as it holds very high ape and large mammal densities (Murai et al. 2013).

Table 2. Ape population estimates reported for Monte Alén National Park

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 troglodytes & Gorilla gorilla gorilla						Monte Alén National Park

Sampling methods Analytical frameworks

Threats

Table 3. Threats to apes reported for Monte Alén National Park

Category	Specific threats	Threat level	Description	Year of threat
5 Biological resource use	5.1 Hunting & collecting terrestrial animals	High (more than 70% of population affected)	Commercial trapping and hunting (Caldecott and Miles 2005; BirdLife International 2020).	2005-Ongoing (2020)
2 Agriculture & aquaculture	2.1 Annual & perennial non-timber crops	Present (unknown severity)	Agricultural expansion (Sunderland 2005; Kenfack 2014).	Ongoing (2014)
5 Biological resource use	5.3 Logging & wood harvesting	Present (unknown severity)	Logging activity (Sunderland 2005; Kenfack 2014)	Ongoing (2014)

Threats

Conservation activities

Challenges

Table 5. Challenges reported for Monte Alén National Park

Challenges	Specific challenges	Source	Year(s)
2 Resources and capacity	2.3 General lack of funding	Kenfack 2014
2 Resources and capacity	2.1 Lack of capacity/training	Kenfack 2014

Challenges

Enablers

Table 6. Enablers reported for Monte Alén National Park

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

Research activities

Documented behaviours

Table 7. Behaviours documented for Monte Alén National Park

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 Monte Alén National Park

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	25.2	25.1	25.3	26.4
Annual precipitation [mm]	3229	3314	3289	3382	3341
Max no. consecutive dry days (per year)	17.899999999999999	7.6	6.7	7.2	6.7
No. days with heavy precipitation (per year)	6.4	11.3	10.6	11.3	12.6

Table 9. Projected exposure of apes to extreme climate impact events in Monte Alén National Park

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	1.5	0	1	0	1.5	0	6	0
Drought	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Heatwave	0	0	0	0	1	50	2.5	50
River flood	1.25	1.1499999999999999	1	1.33	1	1.26	3	1.54
Tropical cyclone	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Wildfire	26.5	0.12	25.25	0.1	25.75	0.12	26.5	0.12

External links

References

BirdLife International. (2020). Important Bird Areas factsheet: Monte Alen National Park. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 10/12/2020.

Miles, J. O. C. L., & Annan, K. (2005). World atlas of great apes and their conservation. Univ of California Press.

Murai M, Ruffler H, Berlemont A, Campbell G, Esono F, Agbor A, et al. (2013). Priority Areas for Large Mammal Conservation in Equatorial Guinea. PLoS ONE 8(9): e75024. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0075024

Sunderland, T. C. H. (2005). A biodiversity assessment of the Monte Mitra forest, Monte Alén National Park, Equatorial Guinea. Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution Press.

Kenfack, C.E. (2014). El paisaje del Monte Alén /Montes de Cristal. CIFOR report, retrieved from: https://www.cifor.org/publications/pdf_files/brief/4507-brief.pdf

Page created by: APES Atlas Team Date: 2020-12-29