Collaborations

Collaboration with the Oelze lab aims to address questions targeting not just Issa chimpanzee isotope ecology and its relationship to food biomechanics (work with Adam van Casteren, see here), but also dental markers of chimpanzee habitat and habitat utilisation... 

Collaboration on chimpanzee positional behaviour focuses on documenting how chimpanzees use the mosaic landscape at Issa. Led by Rhianna Drummond-Clarke, we are currently investigating the full range of hand use and postures used by wild chimpanzees in locomotor...

With Prof Pijanowski, we're working to establish and monitor the Issa soundscape, especially spatio-temporal variability in the sound environment, but also how soundscapes are influenced by human disturbance. More coming soon!

With Prof Su, we're using long-term ecological data from Issa (mammal distribution, composition, and abundance, rainfall, habitat, soil type, etc.) to better model fossil hominin environments, especially those with rich hominin-fossil mammal deposits (left).

In addition to the employment of motion triggered cameras and solar-powered acoustic recorders, the GMERC collaborates with Conservation Drones to assist in better understanding the Issa chimpanzee habitat. This technology has been used to successfully...

Interest in the Issa chimpanzee microbiome began with Jeff Leach (The Human Food Project) in 2014, and has expanded since. We are currently looking into multiple questions answered by the microbiome with Leach’s team and Frank Moller Aarestrup at the National Health...

One artifact of living in a marginal habitat may be increased stress, potentially reflected in behavior (e.g. ranging) or compromised immunity. We thus have ongoing studies of the microbiota of Issa chimpanzees, not only to better understand parasite type and diversity...

With Dr. Lilian Pintea, of JGI, USA, we are working to establish and improve existing GIS remote sensing models that predict chimpanzee presence across western Tanzania. Predictive models consider proximity to forest, steep slopes, and biomass among others...

In 2018, GMERC partnered with Carbon Tanzania and Terra Carbon to work together on protecting chimpanzees in the Ntakata Plateau Forest. These magical landscape is home to chimpanzees, elephants, and numerous species of monkeys. GMERC first surveyed in 2011...

With Dr. Sascha Knauf, we investigated Treponema infection in Issa baboons. The initial goal is initially to isolate and characterize simian Treponema pallidum strains from blood and tissue samples collected from the study troop of yellow baboons...

Simian immunodeficiency virus (SIVcpz) has a significant negative impact on the health, reproduction and lifespan of chimpanzees, yet the prevalence and distribution of this virus in wild-living populations is still only poorly understood. Our collaboration with Dr. Hahn has...

While extensive research and protection efforts have occurred in Gombe National Park and Mahale National Park, at least 75 percent of Tanzanian chimpanzees, of an estimated 2,500-3000 total chimpanzees live outside of these two parks, and little is known about...

This collaboration was part of the PanAfrican Programme: The Cultured Chimpanzee. Part of the initiative’s aim was to collect information on ecological and social parameters of African great ape populations on large spatial scales to complement information obtained...