Human and climatic change impact modelling on the habitat suitability for the chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes ellioti) – Case study: The proposed Mount Cameroon National Park

Dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Geospatial Technologies

The prediction of species' distribution is fundamental to many applications in ecology, wildlife conservation and the science of evolution. Variations in the abundance within a species' geographic range provide the connection between the disciplines of ecology, geostatistics and biogeography. Species predictive modelling is quite intricate considering the spatial and aspatial variables that both play interactive roles in predicting a species' occurrence. Like many primates across Africa, Pan troglodytes ellioti has both the least geographic distribution and population relative to the other chimpanzee subspecies continent wide. With the proposed Mount Cameroon National Park as the study area, predictions displayed as maps further enhance spatial visualisation. Predictions in Maxent had an estimated accuracy assessment of approximately 0.7 and 67.41% being currently suitable respectively. The observed shift in the habitat suitability from lower to higher altitudes suggests climatic conditions prevailing in the suitable range will likely be attainable only at much higher altitudes in the future. A likely consequence on species shall be to ascend towards the summit in order to meet their needs both physiologically and resource wise.