The Gombe Ecosystem Health Project: 16 years of program evolution and lessons learned

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Elizabeth Lonsdorf, Emory University; Dominic A Travis, University of Minnesota, St. Paul; Jane Raphael, Tanzania Nationals Park; Shadrack Kamenya, The Jane Goodall Institute; Iddi Lipende, Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute; Dismas Mwacha, The Jane Goodall Institute, Kigoma, Tanzania; Anthony Collins, The Jane Goodall Institute, Kigoma, Tanzania; Michael Wilson, University of Minnesota, St. Paul; Deus Mjungu, The Jane Goodall Institute, Kigoma; Carson Murray, George Washington University; Jared Bakuza, University of Dar es Salaam; Tiffany M Wolf, University of Minnesota, St. Paul; Michele B Parsons, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta; Jessica R Deere, University of Minnesota, St. Paul; Emma Lantz, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Rancho Cordova, CA; Michael J Kinsel, University of Illinois, Maywood, IL; Rachel Santymire, Davee Ctr Epidemiol & Endocrinol; Lillian Pintea, The Jane Goodall Institute, Vienna; Karen A Terio, University of Illinois, Maywood, IL; Beatrice H Hahn, University of Pennsylvania; Anne E Pusey, Duke University; Jane Goodall, The Jane Goodall Institute, Vienna, VA, USA; Thomas Gillespie, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2021-07-05
• Publisher: WILEY
• Publication Version: Author Accepted Manuscript (After Peer Review)
• Copyright Statement: © 2021 Wiley Periodicals LLC
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ajp.23300
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PRIMATOLOGY
• Volume: 84
• Issue: 4-5
• Start Page: e23300
• End Page: e23300
• Keywords: RESPIRATORY-DISEASE; PAN-TROGLODYTES-SCHWEINFURTHII; chimpanzees; INTESTINAL PARASITES; IMMUNOGLOBULIN-A; Life Sciences & Biomedicine; Zoology; NATIONAL-PARK; human-primate interactions; GASTROINTESTINAL PARASITES; GREAT APES; ecosystem health; WILD CHIMPANZEES; disease transmission; FECAL STEROIDS; Science & Technology; VIRUSES

Abstract

Infectious disease outbreaks pose a significant threat to the conservation of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and all threatened nonhuman primates. Characterizing and mitigating these threats to support the sustainability and welfare of wild populations is of the highest priority. In an attempt to understand and mitigate the risk of disease for the chimpanzees of Gombe National Park, Tanzania, we initiated a long-term health-monitoring program in 2004. While the initial focus was to expand the ongoing behavioral research on chimpanzees to include standardized data on clinical signs of health, it soon became evident that the scope of the project would ideally include diagnostic surveillance of pathogens for all primates (including people) and domestic animals, both within and surrounding the National Park. Integration of these data, along with in-depth post-mortem examinations, have allowed us to establish baseline health indicators to inform outbreak response. Here, we describe the development and expansion of the Gombe Ecosystem Health project, review major findings from the research and summarize the challenges and lessons learned over the past 16 years. We also highlight future directions and present the opportunities and challenges that remain when implementing studies of ecosystem health in a complex, multispecies environment.