Chimpanzee landscape use

Modelling chimpanzee landscape use: a new tool for chimpanzee conservation and a referential model for early hominins

Background information & Aim

Considering the rapid decline of primate habitat, it is important to investigate primate landscape use, as this will enable the identification of which parts of the landscape are especially important for primates and will aid in predicting the effects of future environmental degradations on primate behaviour. Landscape-scale studies of primate habitat use are, however, scant and it remains unclear how flexibly primates can adapt their behaviour to changing environments. Studying primate landscape use is best done through predictive modelling, which allows individuals to virtually interact with different environments based on rules from published literature without altering existing primate habitat. The aim of Kelly van Leeuwen’s PhD study (2015 – 2018) is to investigate chimpanzee landscape use in different environments using an individual-based modelling approach, and to use this as a tool in primate conservation. As chimpanzees are humans’ closest living relatives, Kelly van Leeuwen’s PhD study also aims to use the chimpanzee landscape use information as a referential model for understanding the behaviour and habitat use of early hominins. As behaviour does not fossilize, investigating hominin behaviour remains a great difficulty in the study of human origins. Insights into chimpanzee landscape use in similar environments (e.g. forest mosaics, marginal savannahs) can provide a referential model, detailing how early hominins would have used their environments differently or similarly to extant chimpanzees. Methods include an extensive literature review of the behaviour and habitats of chimpanzees and early hominins, field work in Issa Valley, Ugalla, Tanzania (May – July 2017) and individual-based modelling (NetLogo).

Project Contributors

Lead - Kelly van Leeuwen

Lead Institute - Institute for Studies in Landscape and Human Evolution (ISLHE) at Bournemouth University

Supervisor - Amanda Korstjens

Supervisor - Ross Hill

​

Funding - ISLHE Bournemouth University PhD studentship, PSGB research grant, IPS research grant.