Mapping Suitable Habitat and Anthropocene Refugia for Ethiopian Guerezas: Insights for Their Conservation

28 Pages Posted: 5 Aug 2024

See all articles by Chala Adugna

Chala Adugna

Woldia University

Afework Bekele

Addis Ababa University

Anagaw Atickem

Addis Ababa University

Desalegn Chala

University of Oslo

Diress Tsegaye

University of Oslo

Torbjørn Ergon

University of Oslo

Nils Chr. Stenseth

University of Oslo

Dietmar Zinner

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Abstract

Ethiopia is home to two subspecies of Colobus guereza, C. g. guereza and C. g. gallarum. Whereas C. g. guereza is listed as Least Concern by IUCN, the conservation status of C. g. gallarum is unclear, but according to a recent assessment, it must most likely be listed as Vulnerable, because of habitat loss due to agricultural expansion. Since particularly the pressure on C. g. gallarum is high, we used climate data to model the habitat suitability of both taxa in a comparative study to identify suitable habitats within and outside of protected areas that may serve as Anthropocene refugia. Our ensemble models estimated 168,731 km2 as suitable habitat for C. g. guereza as and as 69,542 km2 for C. g. gallarum with an overlap between the two taxa of 17.2 %. Areas that qualified as refugia were 47,101 km2 and 8,430 km2 for C. g. guereza and C. g. gallarum, respectively. Of these, 39.8%, and 53.7% are within Ethiopia’s protected area network for C. g. guereza and C. g. gallarum, respectively. Given that potential Anthropocene refugia are found only partly within protected areas, conservation management should include this information when developing conservation strategies for both taxa.

Keywords: anthropogenic pressure, climate data, Colobus guereza, ensemble modelling, habitat suitability, primates

Suggested Citation

Adugna, Chala and Bekele, Afework and Atickem, Anagaw and Chala, Desalegn and Tsegaye, Diress and Ergon, Torbjørn and Stenseth, Nils Chr. and Zinner, Dietmar, Mapping Suitable Habitat and Anthropocene Refugia for Ethiopian Guerezas: Insights for Their Conservation. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4916633

Chala Adugna (Contact Author)

Woldia University ( email )

Woldia
1
Woldia, 400
Ethiopia

Afework Bekele

Addis Ababa University ( email )

Anagaw Atickem

Addis Ababa University ( email )

Desalegn Chala

University of Oslo ( email )

PO Box 6706 St Olavs plass
Oslo, N-0317
Norway

Diress Tsegaye

University of Oslo ( email )

PO Box 6706 St Olavs plass
Oslo, N-0317
Norway

Torbjørn Ergon

University of Oslo ( email )

PO Box 6706 St Olavs plass
Oslo, N-0317
Norway

Nils Chr. Stenseth

University of Oslo ( email )

PO Box 6706 St Olavs plass
Oslo, N-0317
Norway

Dietmar Zinner

affiliation not provided to SSRN ( email )

No Address Available

Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?

Paper statistics

Downloads
25
Abstract Views
93
PlumX Metrics