Recovery potential of a western lowland gorilla population following a major Ebola outbreak: results from a ten year study.

ABSTRACT: Investigating the recovery capacity of wildlife populations following demographic crashes is of great interest to ecologists and conservationists. Opportunities to study these aspects are rare due to the difficulty of monitoring populations both before and after a demographic crash. Ebola outbreaks in central Africa have killed up to 95% of the individuals in affected western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) populations. Assessing whether and how fast affected populations recover is essential for the conservation of this critically endangered taxon. The gorilla population visiting Lokoué forest clearing, Odzala-Kokoua National Park, Republic of the Congo, has been monitored before, two years after and six years after Ebola affected it in 2004. This allowed us to describe Ebola's s

SUBMITTER: Genton C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3359368 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature