African apes data set

Aim: Modelling African great ape distribution has until now focused on current or past conditions, whilst future scenarios remain scarcely explored. Using an ensemble forecasting approach, we predicted changes in taxon-specific distribution under future scenarios of climate, land-use and human populations for 1) areas outside protected areas (PAs) only (assuming complete management effectiveness of PAs), 2) the entire study region, and 3) interspecies range overlap.

Location: Tropical Africa

Methods: We compiled occurrence data (n=5,203) on African apes from the IUCN A.P.E.S. database and extracted relevant climate-, habitat-, and human-related predictors representing current and future (2050) conditions to predict taxon-specific range change under a best- and a worst-case scenario, using ensemble forecasting.

Results: The predictive performance of the models varied across taxa. Synergistic interactions between predictors are shaping African ape distribution, particularly human...