Mapping suitable habitat and Anthropocene refugia for Ethiopian Guerezas: Insights for their conservation
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 will most likely be listed as Vulnerable, because of habit...
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Elsevier
2025-06-01
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| Series: | Global Ecology and Conservation |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989425001489 |
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| author | Chala Adugna Kufa Afework Bekele Anagaw Atickem Desalegn Chala Diress Tsegaye Torbjørn Ergon Nils C. Stenseth Dietmar Zinner |
| author_facet | Chala Adugna Kufa Afework Bekele Anagaw Atickem Desalegn Chala Diress Tsegaye Torbjørn Ergon Nils C. Stenseth Dietmar Zinner |
| author_sort | Chala Adugna Kufa |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | 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 will most likely be listed as Vulnerable, because of habitat loss due to agricultural expansion. We used climate data to model the habitat suitability for 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 climatically suitable habitat for C. g. guereza and 69,542 km2 for C. g. gallarum with an overlap between the two taxa of 17.2 %. Areas that qualified as refugia, i.e., areas covered by forest, were 47,101 km2 (only 27.9 % of the total suitable habitat) and 8430 km2 (12.1 % of the suitable habitat) for C. g. guereza and C. g. gallarum, respectively. Of these, 39.8 % (C. g. guereza) and 53.7 % (C. g. gallarum) are within Ethiopia’s current protected area network. 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. As the majority of suitable habitats for the two colobus taxa exist in non-forested regions, afforestation in these areas would be highly beneficial and is strongly recommended. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-3a1548fd42e94ee18fd389d23668a192 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2351-9894 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Global Ecology and Conservation |
| spelling | doaj-art-3a1548fd42e94ee18fd389d23668a1922025-08-20T02:51:53ZengElsevierGlobal Ecology and Conservation2351-98942025-06-0159e0354710.1016/j.gecco.2025.e03547Mapping suitable habitat and Anthropocene refugia for Ethiopian Guerezas: Insights for their conservationChala Adugna Kufa0Afework Bekele1Anagaw Atickem2Desalegn Chala3Diress Tsegaye4Torbjørn Ergon5Nils C. Stenseth6Dietmar Zinner7Department of Zoological Sciences, Addis Ababa University, P.O. Box. 1176, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Department of Biology, Woldia University, P. O. Box. 400, Woldia, Ethiopia; Corresponding author at: Department of Zoological Sciences, Addis Ababa University, P.O. Box. 1176, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.Department of Zoological Sciences, Addis Ababa University, P.O. Box. 1176, Addis Ababa, EthiopiaDepartment of Zoological Sciences, Addis Ababa University, P.O. Box. 1176, Addis Ababa, EthiopiaNatural History Museum, University of Oslo, P. O. Box 1172 Blindern, Oslo 0318, NorwayDepartment of Landscape Monitoring, Survey and Statistics Division, Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research, P.O. Box 115 NIBIO, Ås 1431, NorwayCentre for Ecological & Evolutionary Synthesis, Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo, Blindern, Oslo 0316, NorwayDepartment of Zoological Sciences, Addis Ababa University, P.O. Box. 1176, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Centre for Ecological & Evolutionary Synthesis, Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo, Blindern, Oslo 0316, NorwayCognitive Ecology Laboratory, German Primate Center, Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Göttingen 37077, Germany; Department of Primate Cognition, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Göttingen 37077, Germany; Leibniz Science Campus Primate Cognition, Göttingen 37077, GermanyEthiopia 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 will most likely be listed as Vulnerable, because of habitat loss due to agricultural expansion. We used climate data to model the habitat suitability for 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 climatically suitable habitat for C. g. guereza and 69,542 km2 for C. g. gallarum with an overlap between the two taxa of 17.2 %. Areas that qualified as refugia, i.e., areas covered by forest, were 47,101 km2 (only 27.9 % of the total suitable habitat) and 8430 km2 (12.1 % of the suitable habitat) for C. g. guereza and C. g. gallarum, respectively. Of these, 39.8 % (C. g. guereza) and 53.7 % (C. g. gallarum) are within Ethiopia’s current protected area network. 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. As the majority of suitable habitats for the two colobus taxa exist in non-forested regions, afforestation in these areas would be highly beneficial and is strongly recommended.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989425001489Colobus guerezaEnsemble modellingHabitat suitabilityPrimates |
| spellingShingle | Chala Adugna Kufa Afework Bekele Anagaw Atickem Desalegn Chala Diress Tsegaye Torbjørn Ergon Nils C. Stenseth Dietmar Zinner Mapping suitable habitat and Anthropocene refugia for Ethiopian Guerezas: Insights for their conservation Global Ecology and Conservation Colobus guereza Ensemble modelling Habitat suitability Primates |
| title | Mapping suitable habitat and Anthropocene refugia for Ethiopian Guerezas: Insights for their conservation |
| title_full | Mapping suitable habitat and Anthropocene refugia for Ethiopian Guerezas: Insights for their conservation |
| title_fullStr | Mapping suitable habitat and Anthropocene refugia for Ethiopian Guerezas: Insights for their conservation |
| title_full_unstemmed | Mapping suitable habitat and Anthropocene refugia for Ethiopian Guerezas: Insights for their conservation |
| title_short | Mapping suitable habitat and Anthropocene refugia for Ethiopian Guerezas: Insights for their conservation |
| title_sort | mapping suitable habitat and anthropocene refugia for ethiopian guerezas insights for their conservation |
| topic | Colobus guereza Ensemble modelling Habitat suitability Primates |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989425001489 |
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