High Mammal Diversity and Flagship Species Persist Under Community Conservation in a (…)

ABSTRACT

Community conservation areas often classified as council forests play an important role in the persistence or maintenance of diverse mammal communities. However, these areas often receive limited conservation attention and resources. The Yoko Council Forest (YCF) is among the key biodiversity hotspot areas found in Cameroon. Located in the forest-savannah transition zone, YCF is managed under a community conservation regime which is ranked low within the national Protected Area hierarchy. Although several conservation activities, including community conservation, are ongoing, the diversity of wildlife needs to be updated in order to support conservation management. To this end, we conducted systematic camera trapping in YCF to assess the status and diversity of mammals. We also used binomial generalised linear models to evaluate factors affecting species richness. From 6499 independent photographic events obtained over 17,981 camera trap days, the study documented 38 terrestrial mammal species, including flagship species identified on the IUCN Red List; the endangered Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes ellioti), two endangered pangolin species (giant-ground pangolin (Smutsia gigantea) and white-bellied pangolin (Phataginus tricuspis)), and two vulnerable carnivore species (African golden cat (Caracal aurata) and crested genet (Genetta cristata)). The most common species were blue duiker (Philantomba monticola), African brush-tailed porcupine (Atherurus africanus) and bay duiker (Cephalophus dorsalis). The species rarefaction curve indicates that our efforts were sufficient to record the majority of species present in the YCF. Species richness increased during the long rainy and dry seasons, but decreased during the short dry season. The response of mammalian species to ecological and anthropogenic covariates varied. For example, canopy height was positively associated with species richness, whereas distance to villages did not. Understanding how mammals respond to these factors provides insight into developing conservation strategies that support both wildlife persistence and community needs. Regarding the diversity of wildlife found in YCF, this area contributes at a larger scale to the global 30 × 30 initiative through sustainable management and community engagement.