Altos de Nsork National Park

From A.P.E.S. wiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Central Africa > Equatorial Guinea > Altos de Nsork National Park

Français | Português | Español | Bahasa Indonesia | Melayu

Summary

Loading map...
  • Central chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes troglodytes) & Western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) are present in Altos de Nsork National Park.
  • The population size is unknown.
  • The population trend is unknown.
  • The site has a total size of 700 km².
  • Information on current threats is not documented.
  • Conservation activities are not documented.


Site characteristics

Altos de Nsork National Park is located in the southeastern corner of Equatorial Guinea. The park was established in 2000 and covers 700 sq. km (UNEP-WCMC 2021). Wildlife here is similar to the wildlife in the nearby forests of Gabon; the park is home to central chimpanzees, western lowland gorillas, forest elephants, black colobus monkeys, mandrills, forest buffaloes, and red river hogs (Scafidi 2015).

Table 1. Basic site information for Altos de Nsork National Park

Species Pan troglodytes troglodytes, Gorilla gorilla gorilla
Area 700 km²
Coordinates Lat: 1.175711 , Lon: 11.110265
Type of site Protected area (National Park)
Habitat types Subtropical/tropical moist montane forest
Type of governance

IUCN habitat categories Site designations

Ape status

Table 2. Ape population estimates reported for Altos de Nsork National Park

Species Year Abundance estimate (95% CI) Density estimate [ind./ km²] (95% CI) Encounter rate (nests/km) Area Method Source Comments A.P.E.S. database ID
Pan troglodytes troglodytes Unknown
Gorilla gorilla gorilla Unknown


Threats

According to a survey of birds and mammals in 1998, the forest at the site was relatively undisturbed, although logging had taken place at the site in the past (Larison et al. 1999). Locals utilised the forest for wood for construction, gathering terrestrial plants and other products, hunting, and agriculture (Larison et al. 1999). Hunting was primarily for subsistence using traps and guns; there was little access to markets. There are no roads in the interior of the park, and only a small part of the park's border is close to roads (Larison et al. 1999). Overall, human presence and disturbance was described as relatively low, but a more recent assessment is needed.

Table 3. Threats to apes reported for Altos de Nsork National Park

Category Specific threats Threat level Description Year of threat
1 Residential & commercial development Unknown
2 Agriculture & aquaculture Unknown
3 Energy production & mining Unknown
4 Transportation & service corridors Unknown
5 Biological resource use Unknown
6 Human intrusions & disturbance Unknown
7 Natural system modifications Unknown
8 Invasive & other problematic species, genes & diseases Unknown
9 Pollution Unknown
10 Geological events Absent
11 Climate change & severe weather Unknown
12 Other threat Absent

IUCN Threats list

Conservation activities

Table 4. Conservation activities reported for Altos de Nsork National Park

Category Specific activity Description Implementing organization(s) Year of activity
5 Protection & restoration 5.2 Legally protect ape habitat The site is a national park. 2000-Ongoing

Conservation activities list (Junker et al. 2017)

Challenges

Table 5. Challenges reported for Altos de Nsork National Park

Challenges Specific challenges Source Year(s)
Not reported


Enablers

Table 6. Enablers reported for Altos de Nsork National Park

Enablers Specific enablers Source Year(s)
1 Site management
2 Resources and capacity
3 Engaged community
4 Institutional support
5 Ecological context
6 Safety and stability


Research activities

Documented behaviours

Table 7. Behaviours documented for Altos de Nsork National Park

Behavior Source
Not reported


Exposure to climate change impacts

As part of a study on the exposure of African great ape sites to climate change impacts, Kiribou et al. (2024) extracted climate data and data on projected extreme climate impact events for the site. Climatological characteristics were derived from observation-based climate data provided by the Inter-Sectoral Impact Model Intercomparison Project (ISIMIP, www.isimip.org). Parameters were calculated as the average across each 30-year period. For 1981-2010, the EWEMBI dataset from ISIMIP2a was used. For the two future periods (2021-2050 and 2071-2099) ISIMIP2b climate data based on four CMIP5 global climate models were used. For future projections, two Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) were used. RCP 2.6 is a scenario with strong mitigation measures in which global temperatures would likely rise below 2°C. RCP 6.0 is a scenario with medium emissions in which global temperatures would likely rise up to 3°C by 2100. For the number of days with heavy precipitation events, the 98th percentile of all precipitation days (>1mm/d) was calculated for the 1979-2013 reference period as a threshold for a heavy precipitation event. Then, for each year, the number of days above that threshold was derived. The figures on temperature and precipitation anomaly show the deviation from the mean temperature and mean precipitation for the 1979-2013 reference period.

The estimated exposure to future extreme climate impact events (crop failure, drought, river flood, wildfire, tropical cyclone, and heatwave) is based on a published dataset by Lange et al. 2020 derived from ISIMIP2b data. The same global climate models and RCPs as described above were used. Within each 30-year period, the number of years with an extreme event and the average proportion of the site affected were calculated (Kiribou et al. 2024).

Table 8. Estimated past and projected climatological characteristics in Altos de Nsork National Park

Value 1981-2010 2021-2050, RCP 2.6 2021-2050, RCP 6.0 2071-2099, RCP 2.6 2071-2099, RCP 6.0
Mean temperature [°C] 23.9 25 25 25.2 26.3
Annual precipitation [mm] 3218 3342 3334 3400 3407
Max no. consecutive dry days (per year) 18.5 10.3 9.4 10.1 9.4
No. days with heavy precipitation (per year) 6.6 11.1 10.4 11.1 11.9


Table 9. Projected exposure of apes to extreme climate impact events in Altos de Nsork National Park

Type No. of years with event (2021-2050, RCP 2.6) % of site exposed (2021-2050, RCP 2.6) No. of years with event (2021-2050, RCP 6.0) % of site exposed (2021-2050, RCP 6.0) No. of years with event (2070-2099, RCP 2.6) % of site exposed (2070-2099, RCP 2.6) No. of years with event (2070-2099, RCP 6.0) % of site exposed (2070-2099, RCP 6.0)
Crop failure 9 0.05 9.5 0.04 5.5 0.05 21.5 0.05
Drought 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Heatwave 1.5 50 2 50 2.5 100 6.5 100
River flood 2.5 1.75 2 3.25 1.5 2.33 4 2.57
Tropical cyclone 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Wildfire 28 0.22 28 0.16 27.5 0.2 28 0.18


  • Precipitation anomaly in Altos de Nsork National Park
  • Temperature anomaly in Altos de Nsork National Park

External links

Relevant datasets

References

Kiribou, R., Tehoda, P., Chukwu, O., Bempah, G., Kühl, H. S., Ferreira, J., ... & Heinicke, S. (2024). Exposure of African ape sites to climate change impacts. PLOS Climate, 3(2), e0000345.

UNEP-WCMC (2021). Protected Area Profile for Altos de Nsork from the World Database of Protected Areas, January 2021. Available at: www.protectedplanet.net

Scafidi, O. (2015). Equatorial Guinea. Bradt Travel Guides.

Larison, B., Smith, T.B., Giran, D.,Stauffer, D., Mila, B., Drewes, R.C., Griswold, C.E., Vindum, J.V., Ubick, D., O'Keefe, K., Nguema, J. & Henwood, L. (1999). Biotic Surveys of Bioko and Rio Muni, Equatorial Guinea. Report to the Biodiversity Support Program.


Page created by: A.P.E.S. Wiki team Date: NA