Lopé National Park

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Summary

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• Central chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes troglodytes) & Western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) are present in Lopé National Park.
• The population sizes are unknown.
• The population trends are unknown.
• The site has a total size of 4,910 km².
• The site is part of the Ecosystem and Relic Cultural Landscape of Lopé-Okanda, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Site characteristics

Situated in central Gabon, Lopé National Park is part of the Ecosystem and Relic Cultural Landscape of Lopé-Okanda, a UNESCO World Heritage site. The site contains a special interface between dense tropical rainforest and relict savanna. The diversity of habitat types present at the park has contributed to the high floral diversity; over 1,550 plant species have been documented, including 40 never recorded before in Gabon. It is thought that, with the completion of all the floristic surveys and research, the number of plant species could reach over 3,000 (UNESCO). Well-preserved rock carvings and evidence of iron-working have been discovered in the area; these and other archaeological findings reflect a major migration route of Bantu and other peoples along the River Ogooué valley (UNESCO).

Table 1. Basic site information for Lopé National Park

Species	Gorilla gorilla gorilla, Pan troglodytes troglodytes
Area	4,910 km²
Coordinates	Lat: -0.442447 S , Lon: 11.524291 E
Type of site	Protected area (National Park)
Habitat types	Subtropical/tropical dry forest, Savanna
Type of governance

IUCN habitat categories Site designations

Ape status

Table 2. Ape population estimates reported for Lopé 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
Gorilla gorilla gorilla						Unknown
Pan troglodytes troglodytes						Unknown

Threats

Table 3. Threats to apes reported for Lopé 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	12.1 Other threat	Present, but threat severity is unknown	Less fruits in the ecosystem due to climate change will affect gorilla and chimpanzee populations (Bush et al. 2020).	Ongoing (2020)
12 Other threat		Absent

IUCN Threats list

Conservation activities

Table 4. Conservation activities reported for Lopé National Park

Category	Specific activity	Description	Implementing organization(s)	Year of activity
5 Protection & restoration	5.10 Use prescribed burning within the context of home range size and use	Fire management programme to maintain the diversity of forest/savanna habitats in the park (Jeffrey et al. 2014).		Ongoing (2014)

Conservation activities list (Junker et al. 2017)

Challenges

Table 5. Challenges reported for Lopé National Park

Challenges	Specific challenges	Source	Year(s)
	Not reported

Enablers

Table 6. Enablers reported for Lopé 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

The Station d’Etudes des Gorilles et Chimpanzes (SEGC) was established in 1983. In collaboration with the University of Stirling and Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), the field site has developed one of the most valuable long-term ecological databases in the region. SEGC also supports the park management and guides conservation policy.The WCS also has a long-term project at the park doing mandrill research.

Documented behaviours

Table 7. Behaviours documented for Lopé National Park

Behavior	Source
Ant fishing	University of Stirling 2020
Honey extraction with tools	University of Stirling 2020

External links

Station d’Etudes des Gorilles et Chimpanzes

Lopé National Park WCS

Foraging profiles of sympatric lowland gorillas and chimpanzees in the Lopé Reserve, Gabon

No Evidence for Transmission of Antibiotic-Resistant Escherichia coli Strains from Humans to Wild Western Lowland Gorillas in Lopé National Park, Gabo

References

Bush, E. R., Whytock, R. C., Bahaa-el-din, L., Bourgeois, S., Bunnefeld, N., Cardoso, A. W., Dikangadissi, J. T., Dimbonda, P., Dimoto, E., Edzang Ndong, J., Jeffery, K. J., Lehmann, D., Makaga, L., Momboua, B., Momont, L. R. W., Tutin, C. E. G., White, L. J. T., Whittaker, A., & Abernethy, K. (2020). Long-term collapse in fruit availability threatens Central African forest megafauna. Science, eabc7791. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abc7791

Jeffery, K. J., Korte, L., Palla, F., Walters, G., White, L. J. T., & Abernethy, K. A. (2014). Fire management in a changing landscape: A case study from Lopé National Park, Gabon. PARKS, 20(1), 39-52. https://doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.CH.2014.PARKS-20-1.KJJ.en

University of Stirling. (2020). Stirling expert informs new study on chimpanzee behaviour. Retrieved from: https://www.stir.ac.uk/news/2020/09/stirling-expert-informs-new-study-on-chimpanzee-behaviour/

UNESCO. (n.d.). Ecosystem and Relict Cultural Landscape of Lopé-Okanda. Retrieved from: https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1147/

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