About This Project

This study will document locations of 7 monkey species in un-surveyed areas across Bioko Island, Equatorial Guinea, and determine how hunting is affecting their overall distribution and relative densities. A growing commercial demand for bushmeat has greatly threatened the viability of their populations.

Increased knowledge of the locations of these monkeys are needed for the wildlife authority to make conservation management decisions on some of its most vulnerable species to gun-hunting.

Ask the Scientists

What is the context of this research?

The Island of Bioko in Equatorial Guinea retains relatively intact forest recognized as a biodiversity hotspot. It is home to 7 diurnal monkey species that are all threatened by extinction and frequently documented within the Island’s bushmeat market. Despite minimal deforestation, the unsustainable bushmeat demand driven by wealthy families is greatly accelerating this threat of extinction. In 2007, a presidential decree banned hunting monkey, but a lack of enforcement caused an influx of monkey carcasses in the market.

The Bioko Biodiversity Protection Program , a community organization, has successfully detered hunting through monitoring, research, and education. My proposal will build off their capacity and provide support for their survey efforts of monkeys across Bioko.

What is the significance of this project?

Assessing primate species distribution and abundance in response to hunting is essential to understand the impacts of hunting pressure. This study intends to expand surveys to areas of the reserve that have never been surveyed before. The possibility that populations of Red Colobus monkey may exist in these areas would carry a large significance since this monkey is considered one of the most globally endangered primates.

This study is especially important as, with this data, the wildlife authority can make evidence-based decisions on the implementation of conservation management. Equatorial Guinea has minimal resources available to manage and conserve Bioko’s protected areas, thus it is critical that data-based decisions are made to best deploy its resources for maximum effect.

What are the goals of the project?

This project aims to refine the existing locations of Bioko's monkeys by assessing regions of un and under-surveyed habitat. The objectives of this research are to 1) conduct primate surveys across multiple sites in Bioko’s Gran Caldera Scientific Reserve; 2) quantify hunting levels by enumerating hunting-sign encounters along transects 3) test assumptions of previous survey data from core protected areas, 4) disseminate results to the wildlife authority, El Instituto de Desarollo Forestal y Areas Protegidas, to inform recommendations for priority protection zones based on Bioko’s highly endangered species. The proposed project will improve knowledge of Red Colobus and other primate populations as well as the overall conservation for Bioko's bio-diverse forests.