Humans change wildlife habitats and ecological systems in numerous ways through highly conspicuous land-use changes, such as large-scale clearing of forests for cultivation, but also through smaller-scale resource exploitation, such as harvesting of wild plants (i.e., non-cultivated) for subsistence and medicinal purposes ( Winterhalder, 2001). Effective local conservation strategies should be based on an intricate knowledge of complex social-ecological systems. Understanding the capacity and mechanisms for humans to coexist with large-bodied wildlife at fine spatial scales is vital for contemporary conservation ( Carter et al., 2012) and can inform larger scale conservation efforts ( Nyhus, 2016). This situation is representative of human-chimpanzee coexistence scenarios found across West Africa the importance of shared resource use should be incorporated into local, national and regional conservation strategies.Įxpanding human populations have meant that wildlife increasingly inhabit landscapes in proximity to people ( Woodroffe et al., 2005 Karanth et al., 2010 Hockings et al., 2015 Angelici, 2016). This can be achieved through supporting traditional resource management practices and the strategic replanting of shared plants in deforested areas and degraded corridors between forest fragments. We recommend the active management of plant species that are exploited for their fruits by both humans and chimpanzees at Cantanhez National Park, including figs ( Ficus spp.), oil-palm ( Elaeis guineensis) and velvet tamarind ( Dialium guineense). These findings are important for the development of a shared knowledge base to establish culturally relevant conservation management strategies. Neither plant density nor number of fruiting months impacted human selection of fruit from a plant species, suggesting people might seek out desired resources irrespective of a species’ abundance in the landscape. Chimpanzees fed significantly more on wild fruit species that were available for longer periods, with no effect of that plant species density. Each month, humans and chimpanzees selected three to six of the same wild fruit species. The ranked use of fruits from species which were used by both chimpanzees and humans was significantly positively correlated, suggesting they preferentially target fruits of the same wild plant species. Humans and chimpanzees overlap in the selection of fruits from at least 27 wild plant species. Within an area of 12.7 km 2, we demonstrate that local people’s monthly use of wild fruits was driven by its overall availability in the habitat, whereas chimpanzees, as ripe fruit specialists, sought out fruits year-round. We combined ecological (plant identification, wild fruit availability plots, animal fecal and trace sampling) and social science (free-listing, semi-structured interviews, participant observation) methods to systematically and simultaneously collect data on the availability and selection of fruits from wild plants by humans and critically endangered chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes verus), a national conservation flagship species at Cantanhez National Park, Guinea-Bissau. Understanding the capacity for humans to share resources (crops, wild foods, space) with large-bodied wildlife is vital for biodiversity conservation and human wellbeing, and requires comprehensive examination of their temporal interactions over fine spatial scales. 4Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.3Department of Anthropology, Faculty of Social and Human Sciences, New University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal. 2Centre for Research in Anthropology (CRIA – NOVA FCSH), Lisbon, Portugal.1Centre for Ecology and Conservation, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Cornwall, United Kingdom. Hockings 1,2* Hannah Parathian 2,3 Joana Bessa 2,4 Amelia Frazão-Moreira 2,3
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