WCS 3-Sentence Science

A Mixed Bag for a Rwandan Park

October 31, 2019

CREDIT: JULIE LARSEN MAHER/WCS

Each year, Wildlife Conservation Society scientists publish more than 300 peer-reviewed studies and papers. “WCS 3-Sentence Science” is a regular tip-sheet — in bite sized helpings — of some of this published work.

Here we present work by WCS’s Felix Mulindahabi on species richness in Rwanda’s Nyungwe National Park.

1. Researchers explored trends of seven mammal species in Nyungwe National Park (NNP) in Rwanda between 2009 and 2014.
2. They found that species richness varied due to variables such as poaching and proximity to tourist trails, with duiker species having the largest increase in distribution during the study and eastern chimpanzee and blue monkeys decreasing.
3. The results can be used to improve conservation planning in NNP, such as increased patrols to combat poaching activity and thus increase the probability of a species moving into a new area.

Study and Journal: “Factors affecting species richness and distribution spatially and temporally within a protected area using multi-season occupancy models.” from Animal Conservation
WCS Co-Author(s): Felix Mulindahabi, Nyungwe Project Deputy Director in charge of Research and Monitoring

For more information, contact: Stephen Sautner, 718–220–3682, ssautner@wcs.org.