(CN) — All African apes are endangered due to threats that range from resource extraction to human population growth, but a new study shows apes are already exposed to dangers caused by climate change.
Ape conservation plans tend to focus on near term threats while the impacts of climate change receive less attention because they are often relegated to the distant future. However, a group of climate and biodiversity researchers have found that African ape sites already face dangers from extreme events and temperature fluctuations due to climate change and that exposure will increase..
“It’s really a call to action,” said Dr. Stefanie Heinicke of Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, an author of the study. “We need so much more research and at the same time we need to start putting conservation activities in place. We know [temperature variances and extreme events] will happen, so we need to include those in conservation planning.”
Apes' charismatic status in the animal kingdom motivates significant habitat protection efforts and other species that thrive in the same areas benefit from those protections as well. This makes apes crucial to conservation plans.
The study authors relied on research on climate effects that can affect the health, fertility and ultimately the population of four species of African apes. For example, heavy precipitation events can destroy ape nests, sustained dry periods can increase competition for water sources and climate-induced crop losses can lead to the destruction of ape habitat when humans burn forest to create additional farmland.
Heinicke and her team then combined data from global climate models and used climate impact analysis to determine the exposure of African ape habitat areas to climate change-related temperature and precipitation variances as well as flooding, drought, wildfire and other extreme events. Due to a lack of testing sites across Africa, researchers relied on models to estimate exposure of 333 ape sites in Africa for a 30-year period between 1981 and 2010 as well as a near-term 30-year period (2021-2050) and a far-term period (2071-2099).
The researchers generated predictions based on two climate scenarios, one following a climate pathway with strong reductions in carbon emissions in which global average temperatures rise 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit by 2100. The second pathway involves a less stringent carbon mitigation response with a global average temperature rise of 5.4 degrees by 2100.
Temperature variations increased steadily during past years across most of the sites analyzed in the study.
“This was really surprising for me to see how strongly temperature anomalies are already occurring across the sites,” Heinicke said. “And this is a consistent, clear picture; for almost half the sites, nine of the past 10 years have been hotter than the average and for some sites 10 of the past 10 years have been hotter.”
The researchers pointed out apes do exhibit adaptive behavior, gorillas tend to increase hydration to combat the heat while chimpanzees will lounge in pools of water or seek shelter in cool caves during the day and transition their active hours to night and evening. But research on the efficacy of these adaptations is limited and they can involve consequences like increased vulnerability to nighttime predators.
Study results indicate that heat waves will affect 80% of ape range area with an average frequency of five years in the near and long term for the 3.6-degree warming scenario. Crop failures and wildfires are expected to affect all ape sites more often but will cover less area of the ape ranges. The 5.4-degree warming scenario generally produced higher temperatures and frequency of events with more range area affected across most categories.
There are a number of conservation measures that can improve the ability of apes to adapt to climate change in both the immediate and long term. Some of these measures are already in use on a limited basis. In Senegal, separate livestock watering holes were created to reduce competition for natural water sources.
Fire breaks can be used to slow the spread of wildfires and protection of ape nesting trees can be prioritized. Additionally, wildlife corridors can allow for mobility when specific territories are impacted and economic safety nets for farmers can reduce deforestation due to crop failures.
The study authors note that planning is required to implement these mitigations on a broad scale and in order to accomplish that climate impacts will need to be carefully considered in conservation plans.
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