Luo Scientific Reserve

Central Africa > Democratic Republic of the Congo > Luo Scientific Reserve

Summary

• Bonobos (Pan paniscus) are present in Luo Scientific Reserve.
• It has been estimated that 173 to 231 individuals occur in the site.
• The bonobo population trend is decreasing.
• The site has a total size of 481 km².
• Key threats to bonobos are habitat encroachment as a result of agricultural expansion, and hunting, particularly during past periods of civil conflict .
• Conservation activities have focused on the maintenance of infrastructure, medical services, and education.
• Long-term studies on wild bonobos began at Wamba, Luo Scientific Reserve, in 1973.

Site characteristics

Table 1. Basic site information for Luo Scientific Reserve

Area	481 km²
Coordinates	0.045 N, 22.543 E
Designation	Protected area with sustainable use of resources
Habitat types	Subtropical/tropical moist lowland forest, subtropical/tropical swamp forest

IUCN habitat categories Site designations

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  Map of Luo Scientific Reserve © Takeshi Furuichi
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  Map of Luo Scientific Reserve © Takeshi Furuichi

Ape status

The study of bonobos at Wamba (in the northern sector of the current Luo Scientific Reserve) started in 1973. The number of bonobos were steadily increasing until some cases of illegal hunting occurred in the 1980's. In order to protect bonobos in this area, a Congolese research center and Japanese researchers established a station for scientific research in 1992, which included both northern and southern sectors on both banks of the Luo River. During two periods of civil war, from 1996 to 2003, bonobos in the northern sector decreased to 40% and those in the southern sector disappeared from half of the area. Bonobos in the northern sector steadily increased from 2003 when research activities resumed, and almost recovered to the previous population size, but the current trend in the southern sector is unknown (Furuichi pers. comm. 2020).

Table 2. Ape population estimates in Luo Scientific Reserve

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 paniscus	1996	173	0.36		Luo Scientific Reserve (481 km²)	Line transects (Distance)	Hashimoto & Furuichi, 2001
Pan paniscus	1996	231	0.48		Luo Scientific Reserve (481 km²)	Full count	Hashimoto & Furuichi, 2001	Density was estimated by number of individuals/ranging area for two study groups.

Threats

Bonobos in the northern sector decreased to 40% between 1991 and 2002 probably due to hunting by soldiers and local people, but they steadily recovered after 2003 when research resumed. During the war, people who fled from the village made a number of small homesteads in the forest. Currently, local people are expanding their agricultural fields into the protected area (Furuichi pers. comm. 2020).

Table 3. Threats to apes in Luo Scientific Reserve

Category	Specific threats	Threat level	Quantified severity	Description	Year of threat
1. Residential & commercial development		Absent
2. Agriculture & aquaculture	2.1 Annual & perennial non-timber crops	Medium		Agricultural expansion into the protected area (Furuichi pers. comm. 2020)	Ongoing (2020)
3. Energy production & mining		Absent
4. Transportation & service corridors		Absent
5. Biological resource use	5.1 Hunting & collecting terrestrial animals	Medium		Bonobos in the northern sector decreased to 40% between 1991 and 2002 during civil conflict due to hunting by soldiers and local people, but they steadily recovered after 2003 when we resumed the study (Furuichi pers. comm. 2020).	1991-1996; 1996-2002
6. Human intrusion & disturbance		Absent
7. Natural system modifications		Absent
8. Invasive & other problematic species, genes, diseases		Unknown
9. Pollution		Absent
10. Geological Events		Absent
11. Climate change & severe weather		Unknown
12. Other options		Absent

IUCN Threats list

Conservation activities

In order to strengthen public awareness, an NGO called “Support for Conservation of Bonobos” was established to help in the maintenance of infrastructure, medical services, and education that had been seriously damaged by the war. A joint patrolling program involving people from all homesteads in Wamba village is also implemented (Furuichi pers. comm. 2020).

Table 4. Conservation activities in Luo Scientific Reserve

Category	Specific activity	Description	Year of activity
1. Residential & commercial development	Not reported
2. Agriculture & aquaculture	Not reported
3. Energy production & mining	Not reported
4. Transportation & service corridors	Not reported
5. Biological resource use	Not reported
6. Human intrusion & disturbance	Not reported
7. Natural system modifications	Not reported
8. Invasive & other problematic species, genes, diseases	Not reported
9. Pollution	Not reported
10. Education & Awareness	Not reported
11. Habitat Protection	Not reported
12. Species Management	Not reported
13. Livelihood; Economic & Other Incentives	13.2. Provide non-monetary benefits to local communities for sustainably managing their forest and its wildlife (e.g. better education, infrastructure development)	Support for local community (maintenance of infrastructure, medical services, and education; Furuichi pers. comm. 2020)	Ongoing (2020)

Conservation activities list (Junker et al. 2017)

Challenges

Table 5. Challenges reported for Luo Scientific Reserve

Challenge	Source
Civil unrest	Nackoney et al, 2014; Idani et al, 2008
Lack of trust and support from local communities	Furuichi pers. comm. 2020

Research activities

In the northern sector, behavioral and ecological studies of bonobos have been conducted since 1973, except for a break between 1992 and 2002 due to political instability and civil war. In the southern sector, an ecological survey was being conducted until 1992; currently no research activities are being carried out in this sector (Furuichi pers. comm. 2020).

Documented behaviours

Table 6. Ape behaviors reported for Luo Scientific Reserve

Behavior	Source

External links

Wamba
Wamba Facebook page

Relevant datasets

A.P.E.S Portal

References

Kano T (1992) The Last Ape: Pygmy Chimpanzee Behavior and Ecology. Stanford University Press, Stanford, California
Kano T, Bongoli L, Idani G, Hashimoto C (1996) The challenge of Wamba. Etica & Animali 8/96: 68-74
Hashimoto C, Furuichi T (2001) Current situation of bonobos in the Luo Reserve, Equateur, Democratic Republic of Congo. In: All apes great and small, vol.1: African Apes Kluwer Acad/Plenum, New York, pp 83-93
Idani G, Mwanza N, Ihobe H, Hashimoto C, Tashiro Y, Furuichi T (2008) Changes in the status of bonobos, their habitat, and the situation of humans at Wamba in the Luo Scientific Reserve, Democratic Republic of Congo. In: Furuichi T, Thompson J (eds) The bonobos: behavior, ecology, and conservation. Springer, New York, pp 291-302
Furuichi T et al. (2012) Long-term studies on wild bonobos at Wamba, Luo Scientific Reserve, D. R. Congo: towards the understanding of female life history in a male-philopatric species. In: Kappeler PM, Watts DP (eds) Long-term field studies of primates. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, pp 413-433
Nackoney J, Molinario G, Potapov P, Turubanova S, Hansen MC, Furuichi T (2014) Impacts of civil conflict on primary forest habitat in northern Democratic Republic of the Congo, 1990–2010. Biol Conserv http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2013.12.033

Page completed by: Takeshi Furuichi Date: 01/12/2020