Reports

Program No.17-029

Ecological research for wild bonobo in Wamba forest, Democratic Republic of the Congo

TAKEMOTO Hiroyuki

Period of invitation: 15th December,2005 - 31th January,2006

Centre de Recherche en Ecologie et Foresterie , Congo

I made a voyage in Democratic Republic of the Congo from December 15, 2005 to January 31, 2006. The discussion about arrangements of the present research and future programs with the Dr. Mwanza, Director at the　Centre de Recherche en Ecologie et Foresterie in Kinshasa. The field survey was conducted in the Wamba forest, from December 24, 2005 to January 24, 2006.

 The thermo-hygro meters were placed in a swamp forest and a terre firme forest at 1.5m to 21m heights for measuring the vertical structure of the microclimate in the forests. Fruit production was estimated with binoculars targeting all trees in the transects. Focal animals were followed and the activities and positioning heights for each members in the party were recorded by scan sampling method every 10 minutes. Correlations among utilization heights engaged in each activity category (feeding height, resting height, moving height) and between relative heights and microclimatic variables will be examined.

Tropical Congo basin forest

baby (born in 2005)

Resting on the fallen tree

Eating Dialium Fruit

HOPE Project<>