Launch of A.P.E.S. Database

Over the last three decades an impressive effort has been focused on gathering information on the distribution and abundance of the remaining gorilla, chimpanzee, bonobo and orangutan populations. These surveys provide convincing evidence that the numbers of great apes are declining rapidly as a result of habitat destruction, commercial bushmeat hunting and disease epidemics in many regions. It is essential that ape populations, their habitats and current threats are monitored to evaluate population trends and to plan towards their long-term survival. Ape nest counts and other signs provide the baseline data for addressing issues ranging from prioritization of populations for monitoring and protection efforts and making recommendations for conservation action, as well as assessments such as the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. But it has proven to be difficult to determine the global status of great apes while these datasets, collected and analyzed by a diverse group of individuals and organizations, remain dispersed.
Researchers from the Department of Primatology at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (MPI EVAN) have now developed the Ape Populations, Environments and Surveys (A.P.E.S.) database in collaboration with the Section on Great Apes (SGA) of the IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group. Our overall objective is to provide an accurate picture of the distribution and abundance of great apes, and thus inform about long-term management and conservation strategies for these taxa. Information on ape distribution, nest encounter rates, temporal population trends and, where available, abundance estimates will be compiled and made available to individuals interested in collaborating on this project. MPI EVAN will provide a support service for survey design and data analysis to contributors. The A.P.E.S. team is also willing to analyse data on behalf of researchers and others, such as logging companies who participate in the monitoring of great ape populations (the SGA will soon publish "Best Practice Guidelines for Reducing the Impact of Commercial Logging on Great Apes in Western Equatorial Africa").
The success of this endeavour will depend largely on the willingness of individuals and institutions to contribute and to participate. An "IUCN data access and release policy" has been formulated, which allows data owners to specify parameters of use of any dataset contributed to A.P.E.S. Quality of the information stored will be ensured by a Data Review Working Group (DRWG) that will assess data sets and attribute a quality category to each survey.
So far, the database developers have focused on cataloguing published surveys and soliciting researchers to contribute any data available. Approximately 200 surveys of gorillas and chimpanzees have been listed to date, with a further 300 thought to exist but yet to be acquired. We are now expanding the database to include bonobos and orangutans, and survey information from Malaysia and Indonesia is being entered. The website also features an interactive map which links survey data to geographic locations, providing a user-friendly means for searching by country or region. A.P.E.S. Status Reports will be produced by the DRWG and the first progress report will be published in 2008. In addition, biannual newsletters will provide updates to interested parties. If you or your organization/institution wish to subscribe, please send an email to apes (at) eva.mpg.de, specifying "A.P.E.S. news" in the subject line.
The A.P.E.S. database should be considered a work in progress. Feedback from users will be essential to ensuring the database is functionally useful and provides information in a user-friendly way. Its envisioned outcome will provide a better understanding of great ape populations with direct implications for the efficacy of large-scale population monitoring efforts. We therefore would like to use this opportunity to encourage researchers with survey data to consider making them available to A.P.E.S. Datasets can either be uploaded directly to the website or can be sent via email.
Please do not hesitate to contact us, if you have questions or suggestions with regard to this project by emailing: apes (at) eva.mpg.de
A.P.E.S. website
IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group
Max Planck Institute, Department of Primatology

Hjalmar Kuehl, Liz Williamson, Crickette Sanz, David Morgan and Christophe Boesch

Hjalmar Kuehl began field work in 2001 with the habituation of a chimpanzee community in Taï National Park, Ivory Coast. From 2003 on he has conducted ape surveys in Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park, Republic of Congo, and Moukalaba-Doudou National Park, Gabon. He works at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany.
Dr. Liz Williamson began fieldwork on apes in 1982, and has worked in many countries, among others as director of the Karisoke Research Centre. She is currently Coordinator of the Section on Great Apes of the IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group.
Dr. Crickette Sanz began studying chimpanzees as a research assistant at the Chimpanzee and Human Communication Institute in Ellensburg, Washington. In 2000, she joined the Goualougo Triangle Chimpanzee Research Project in the Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park, Republic of Congo. She continues to study this ape population as a post-doctoral research fellow in the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig.
Dr. David Morgan began studying wild apes in 1997, and in 1999 he initiated a study of chimpanzees in the Goualougo Triangle, which is still continuing. His research interests include socio-spatial organization of wild chimpanzees, and evaluating the effects of mechanized logging on sympatric chimpanzees and gorillas in northern Congo.
Dr. Christophe Boesch is Director of the Primatology Department of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and President of the Wild Chimpanzee Foundation. He studied chimpanzees in the Taï Forest, Ivory Coast, for over 20 years.

Gorillas in general - overview

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