Altos de Nsork National Park

Central Africa > Equatorial Guinea > Altos de Nsork National Park

Summary

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• 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

Area	700 km²
Coordinates	1.175711, 11.110265
Designation	National Park
Habitat types	Subtropical/tropical moist montane forest

IUCN habitat categories Site designations

Ape status

Table 2. Ape population estimates in 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
Gorilla gorilla gorilla

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 in Altos de Nsork National Park

Category	Specific threats	Threat level	Quantified severity	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 intrusion & 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 options		Absent

IUCN Threats list

Conservation activities

Table 4. Conservation activities in Altos de Nsork National Park

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	11.2. Legally protect primate habitat	The site is a national park.	2000-Ongoing
12. Species Management	Not reported
13. Livelihood; Economic & Other Incentives	Not reported

Conservation activities list (Junker et al. 2017)

Challenges

Table 5. Challenges reported for Altos de Nsork National Park

Challenge	Source
Not reported

Research activities

Documented behaviours

Table 6. Ape behaviors reported 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 7. Estimated past and projected climatological characteristics in Altos de Nsork National Park

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

	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

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 completed by: A.P.E.S. Wiki team Date:14/01/2021