The benefits of greater conservation investment for endangered species

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博士生的旅程可能需要通过看似脱节的设置进行导航：从教室到田野再到实验室，最后到写作台。经过数年的旅程，我将接近自己的研究生职业生涯。

现在，当我坐在德国莱比锡的桌子上时，西部乌干达的森林碎片似乎很远。在那里，我和我的团队花了一年多的时间在人类主导的农场和森林碎片的马赛克中学习黑猩猩。

Chimpanzees in human-dominated habitats

Although this chimpanzee population lives under seemingly abnormal conditions, they represent a growing proportion of this endangered species. Chimpanzees are losing their remaining habitat throughout Equatorial Africa – and quickly. Increasingly, they live outside national parks and protected areas, often in highly degraded habitats.

他们在这样的栖息地中可以持续的程度取决于许多因素，但在很大程度上仍然不确定。已经发表了许多研究，表明人类主导栖息地中的黑猩猩通过将人类作物食品纳入饮食中，仔细地越过道路以避免交通，并使用隐性或侵略性行为来改变其行为，并使用隐性或侵略性行为与人类邻居交往。

作为一名博士生，我已经进行了自己的研究项目，以帮助回答关键问题的清单，包括黑猩猩的数量以及它们是否被组织到受保护森林中典型的社区中。

The movement of genes

My project focuses on the region around Bulindi, which spans a mosaic landscape about 1,200 km²在size between the Budongo and Bugoma Forest Reserves. Because Budongo and Bugoma are each home to about 600 chimpanzees, this region as a whole is vital in conservation terms, since it acts as a corridor for chimpanzees and other wildlife, allowing the movement of animals – and their genes – between these protected forest reserves.

黑猩猩的森林碎片理解ably wary of humans, so we can’t count them or follow them easily.

黑猩猩的森林碎片理解ably wary of humans, so we can’t count them or follow them easily. However, we can collect samples of their dung, which offer a wealth of data regarding individual identity, diet, and health status.

我们花了几个月的时间来提取DNA和基因分型，以收集我们收集的近900个粪便样品，然后进行了许多小时的分析，以计算代表的不同个体的数量并估计总体规模。

Our results,现在出版BMC Ecology，，，，provide genetic evidence of a population between about 260 and 320 chimpanzees in these degraded forest fragments. This is notable given that a2003年黑猩猩的全国人口普查在乌干达，该领域的估计不到三分之一，理由是估计约有70个人。

Based on the density at Bulindi, however, researcher Matt McLennan suggested in2008年的论文多达260个黑猩猩可以居住在整个地区。我们基于遗传的估计与该数字更紧密地保持一致，这表明比全国普查中估计的人口更大，更广泛。

随着实验室中的日子，我研究的黑猩猩似乎越来越多地由遗传数据的识别数量和字符串表示。然而，最终，我们可以根据我们对它们进行采样的位置以及每个样本的注释来绘制不同个体的基因型。我们在该领域的经验终于开始与数据合并，我的研究项目的不同方面开始汇聚一些显着的发现。

瞥见独特的个体

Though we didn’t spend much time in the field directly observing the chimpanzees, we caught glimpses of some distinctive individuals often enough to give them names which we used to identify them. We remembered sampling a female we called Izzy, who was missing her left hand.

This injury was likely the result of a wire snare, an illegal but regularly used hunting device and common cause of injury and mortality among chimpanzees in Uganda. The data revealed that, unbeknownst to us at the time, we collected samples from beneath her nests a few times in different forests throughout her community’s home range.

There was also the adult male Caesar, who we saw on numerous occasions and named after his distinctive facial features that reminded us of thePlanet of the Apes特点。一旦我们看着他坐在农场边缘的一棵树中，冷静地调查了我们和附近工作的农民。反过来，农民忽略了他，习惯了他们经常光顾附近森林地块的黑猩猩。

A week later, as we walked along the forest edge, we stumbled upon loggers cutting down this very tree for firewood. One can only wonder how the chimpanzees themselves reacted upon discovering the loss of yet another tree they once used for nesting, feeding, or just ‘hanging out’.

宝贵的栖息地

我们的发现证实，这个人类主导的景观中有数百个伊兹和凯撒。但是，鉴于森林砍伐的速度迅速，他们的期货高度不确定。除了栖息地丧失的威胁外，这些黑猩猩经常与人类邻居发生冲突，从而使黑猩猩面临严重伤害和死亡的风险。

他们的保护并不是一个容易的前景，但这是重要的。这样的未受保护的景观可以被驳回，因为浪费了保护的原因。尽管如此，这些黑猩猩是具有更完整栖息地的较大人群之间的重要联系。

他们也是旗舰物种的成员，代表该生物多样性地区的各种受威胁物种。最后，也许最有说服力的是，他们的栖息地也对人类居民也很有价值。这些黑猩猩居住的河森林支持关键水道，这些水道对地方农业生计至关重要。

Looming threats of climate change further underscore the importance of investing in these waterways. The loss of these unprotected forests therefore threatens not only the chimpanzees but also the regional economy and ecosystem.

Therefore, while it’s tempting to reassuringly conclude that these chimpanzees are faring much better than predicted, considering the population’s large size and broad distribution, an alternative take-home message seems more apt. These results instead highlight the potential benefits of greater conservation investment in vulnerable unprotected corridor habitats like this one, for the sake of both endangered wildlife and humans.