Assessment of Colobus Monkey Habitat Preference in Karura Forest, Nairobi County Kenya

Abstract

Habitat selection is a reflection of the responses of individual’s species to spatial variation in the distribution of resources, other organisms, and environmental conditions. This study assessed the habitat selection of C. guereza monkey in Karura forest. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the habitat preference and selection by C. guereza monkeys in Karura forest, the main focus was to establish the habitat types within the forest and to compare the utilization of indigenous and exotic forest. The study adopted both cross-sectional and longitudinal study designs. Data was obtained from both primary and secondary sources. Primary data was from species direct observation, photography and note taking, while secondary data relied mainly on literature reviews from scholars, satellite images, videos and websites. The research was conducted over twelve weeks duration and it involved monitoring of seven families of the C. guereza monkeys and the habitat they inhibited. Habitat types classification in Karura forest was done by analyzing vegetation cover using satellite image obtained from USGS website in November 2018. The satellite image was from path 168 and row 061 of Landsat 8 OLI and TIRS sensor. The habitat types were classified by using the Landsat 8 satellite images that uses the Operational Landmager and Thermal Infrared Sensors. Kernel Density Estimation (KDE) was used to determine the habitat preference by C. guereza. Results from this study indicate that C. guereza monkeys display an uneven habitat preference across indigenous and exotic habitat types within the forest. There is high preference for indigenous forest as a result of availability of food in these habitats. The most dominant trees species that were observed to be highly utilized by C. guereza included Vepris trichocarpa, Olea Africana, Craibia brownie, Warburgia ugandensis, Rawsonia lucida and Vepris simplicifolia. From this study no records of exotic tree species formed part of the diet of colobus monkey, a few of the exotic trees utilized by this monkeys were used for resting. This study observed that the C. guereza in Karura forest spend relatively very minimum time resting compared to other studies involving similar monkeys. Most studies have recorded about 50% of the time the C. guereza spends in resting, which is contrary to this study since it recorded only 22% of the total time spent resting. Thus, based on this observation the study concluded that the re-introduced C. guereza in Karura forest, are struggling with adaptation into the forest. The finding of the study recommends that Karura forest management should focus on increased re-planting of indigenous plant species that are highly utilized by C. guereza within the forest in order to provide suitable habitat for them. In addition, further studies including the carrying capacity of Karura forest, reproduction success, ecological and behavioral aspects of C. guereza monkey in the study area should be conducted before reintroducing more C. guereza into the forest.