beringei beringei hereafter MG) from montane habitats in the Virungas (approx. Īmong eastern gorillas, we see that mountain gorillas ( G. Similarly, such data could feed into more in-depth research on patterns of food availability, the processes that influence food availability, and the links between food availability and various aspects of gorilla behaviour such as dietary flexibility and ranging patterns. An overview of the food resources for GG could then be used as a starting point for the development of targets for forest restoration (“replant important great ape food trees” ) or other conservation and management strategies. To understand how human-induced changes in forest ecosystems may affect the food availability for GG, we first need to obtain baseline data on food resources for GG under “pristine” conditions. One factor that determines the long-term persistence and abundance of GG populations is food availability, of which the continuous and year-round supply is under threat from anthropogenic pressures such as forest loss and degradation. This lack of knowledge on GG living at lower elevations is concerning and indicates an urgent need for effectively planned and science-based conservation actions, as GG that range across lower elevations experience a rapid decrease in habitat availability and population size. 500–1,500 m) elevations are population surveys in and around low-elevation sections of KBNP, genetic work including samples from low-elevation forests at Walikale and Nkuba, intermittent research efforts on GG in lowland sections of Itebero, and older short-term studies on populations at lowland sections of Nord Kivu province (“Utu”) and highland Itombwe Mountains. The only notable studies at lower (approx. The montane habitats at these latter 2 locations are unrepresentative of the lowland evergreen tropical rain forests that make up the majority of the GG geographic range. Most ecological research on GG is restricted to small populations found at relatively high elevations (> 2,000 m), one in Kahuzi-Biega National Park (KBNP) and another on Mt. Field research across the geographic range of this great ape has been limited by security issues and logistical challenges. We know little of the life history and ecology of Grauer’s gorilla ( Gorilla beringei graueri hereafter GG), a critically endangered ape subspecies found only in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). gorilla), which live under ecologically comparable conditions. The diet of Grauer’s gorillas in the NCA differed from that of Grauer’s gorillas in highland habitat and instead showed similarities with Grauer’s gorillas at the lowland forest of Itebero and with western lowland gorillas ( G. We found that the most frequently recorded food items were consumed year-round, though fruit intake seems to peak in the September-December wet season, possibly reflecting patterns in fruit phenology. Vegetative plant parts (plant stems, leaves, pith, bark, and roots), especially of Marantaceae and Fabaceae, made up close to 90% of recorded feeding signs, with fruit accounting for most of the remainder and a small (<1%) number of feeding signs on invertebrates and fungi. Between 20, we simultaneously tracked 1–3 gorilla groups and recorded a total of 10,514 feeding signs on at least 100 plant species, ants, termites, and fungi. Community-based conservation efforts at the NCA aim to protect a population of unhabituated Grauer’s gorillas, which we have studied since 2014. Here, we provide an initial and non-exhaustive overview of food items of Grauer’s gorillas in the Nkuba Conservation Area (NCA), a lower-elevation (500–1,500 m) forest located between Kahuzi-Biega National Park and Maiko National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Although the vast majority of critically endangered Grauer’s gorillas ( Gorilla beringei graueri) inhabit low-elevation rain forests, current insights into this ape’s life history and ecology stem predominantly from 2 small populations ranging in highland habitats.
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