Data and sample collection

Systematic data and sample collection is designed to be performed in a 25-30km2. 

After the reconessence (recce) of the area, field teams decide, together with the BonDiv core team, where to place the grid for the systematic data and sample collection.

During at least 12 months, teams follow the same protocol to collect data on bonobo populations using non-invasive methods.

Simultaneously, teams collect environmental information to characterize the vegetation and calculate the fruit abundance; climate data to help understand the ecological dynamics and animal behaviour; sympatric wildlife data to estimate the abundance of potential prey and predator species; or pathogen samples to evaluate the ecosystem’s health, among others.

Bonobo presence/absence data is collected at two complementary satellite sites at each location to improve the geographic coverture, and social interviews at villages around the research site allow us to study the human impact providing the social context.

 

September 2023, By Paula Dieguez

Field team at the Mbali BonDiv site (in collaboration with Mbou-Mon-Tour)
The field team at the Mbali BonDiv (in collaboration with Mbou-Mon-Tour) site installs pitfall traps.
Steven Muhindo (center right), researcher at LacTumba BonDiv site (in collaboration with WWF-DRC and CREF), with field assistants
Martin Bofeko (center right, researcher at LacTumba BonDiv site (in collaboration with WWF-DRC and CREF), with the Lac Tumba field team
Martin Bofeko, researcher at the LacTumba BonDiv site (in collaboration with WWF-DRC and CREF), installing camera traps
Field team at the Ikelemba BonDiv site (in collaboration with Groupe dAppui a la Conservation des Ecosystemes de Basankusu et de Bolomba-GACEBB)
Donatienne Barubiyo, researcher at the Lomako BonDiv site (in collaboration with the Antwerpen Zoo Foundation), confirming the presence of bonobo nests
Dieumerci Mpongo (right) and Johnson Uyulu (left), researchers at Lomami BonDiv site (in collaboration with the Frankfurt Zoological Society)
Johnson Uyulu, researcher at the Lomami BonDiv site (in collaboration with the Frankfurt Zoological Society), conducting research in a vegetation plot.
The Lomami National Park field team (in collaboration with the Frankfurt Zoological Society), reviewing the data collected for a bonobo diet sample.
This view, from the Lomami NP BonDiv site (in collaboration with the Frankfurt Zoological Society), is a common view for our field teams! Photo Dieumerci Mpongo.
The LacTumba field team (in collaboration with WWF-DRC and CREF) looking for bonobo hair in a bonobo nest, high in a tree.
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