Data from: Ecological resilience in a primate community affected by gold mining in Suriname
Data files
Dec 08, 2025 version files 10.80 KB
Abstract
Tropical habitats in South America and Africa are being transformed by artisanal gold mining (ASM) but few studies have addressed how mining impacts animals at the community level. We assessed long-term ecological resilience to mining disturbance for seven primate species (Allouatta macconnelli, Ateles paniscus, Cebus olivaceus, Chiropotes sagulatus, Pithecia pithecia, Saguinus midas, and Sapajus apella) in Brownsberg Nature Park, Suriname over a 20-year period. Using eleven trails and unpaved roads to calculate “encounter rates” (species encountered/km walked), we compared encounter frequency, encounter location, and group size across four community-wide surveys in 2003, 2013, 2014, and 2023. We hypothesized that primate response to gold mining would 1) affect species encounter rates; 2) shift the location of encounters relative to mining activity, and 3) impact group sizes. Intraspecific variation in encounter rates from 2003 to 2023 did not vary significantl,y but minimum group sizes declined for all species (four species showing significant declines). The three more recent surveys also showed that two species were encountered in areas close to the top of the mountain. We suggest that in the context of intensified mining, the Brownsberg primate community maintained stable encounter rates for all species and some species shifted their ranges as evidenced by greater encounter rates farther from the periphery of the study area. While this suggests a capacity for resilience in the face of mining-related disturbances, the decline in group sizes may be an early sign of an insidious community-wide effect.
https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.2jm63xt0m
Description of the data and file structure
Primate survey data were collected from seven species at Brownsberg Nature Park in Suriname, South America at four different times: 2003, 2013, 2014 and 2023. Survey data consisted of recording species encounters, converting species encounter to a rate (observations/1 km walked). Location information was added by recording trail marks at the time of encounters.
Files and variables
File: Plateau_Index.csv
Description: Proportion of species encounters on the plateau of Brownsberg Nature Park. Locations were simplified to a) "plateau" - top of the mountain and b) "slope" of the mountain to determine whether there was a shift in location over time. "Plateau" trails began and ended on the plateau and all "slope" trails started on the plateau and continued for variable distances before they descended onto the slope. Thus, the plateau index included any species encounter on the plateau regardless of trail. The index was used to assess whether a species was moving away from mining areas (i.e., to the plateau) over the course of the four surveys. It was calculated by summing all encounters on the plateau (sum of plateau Ers) divided by all encounters (plateau and slope). Indexes were averaged for each species over the four surveys to create a plateau index for years 2013, 2014, 2023. We added an estimated plateau index for 2003 (Methods) to calculate a 4-survey index. In Fig 7, 2013 and 2014 indexes were averaged for presentation.
Variables
- Year (of survey)
- Species codes = AM = Alouatta macconnelli; AP = Ateles paniscus; CO = Cebus olivaceus; PP = Pithecia pithecia; CS = Chiropotes sagulatus; SA = Sapajus apella; SM = Saguinus midas
File: 2003_Primate_encounter_rate_by_trail.csv
Description: Primate encounters by trail in the 2003 survey. Variables include total kilometers walked on 10 trails at Brownsberg Nature Park, Suriname, encounter frequency of seven primate species, and encounter rate (total number of encounters per species divided by total number of kilometers walked).
Variables
- Trails (MW = Mazaroni Weg; WK = Witte Kreek; JT = Jeep Trail; AKP = Agwago Kunu Pasi; IV = Irene Val; KV = Kumbu Val; RW = Rond Wandeling; MT = Mazaroni Top; MV = Mazaroni Val; TE = TeleSur; IT = Interpretive trail)
- Primate species (SM = Saguinus midas; SA = Sapajus apella; AM = Alouatta macconnelli; AP = Ateles paniscus; CO = Cebus olivaceus; CS = Chiropotes sagulatus; PP = Pithecia pithecia)
- Encounter rate = number of encounters per km walked
File: 2013_Primate_encounter_rate_by_trail.csv
Description: Primate encounters by trail in the 2013 survey. Variables include total kilometers walked on 11 trails at Brownsberg Nature Park, Suriname, encounter frequency of seven primate species, and encounter rate (total number of encounters per species divided by total number of kilometers walked).
Variables
- Trails (MW = Mazaroni Weg; WK = Witte Kreek; JT = Jeep Trail; AKP = Agwago Kunu Pasi; IV = Irene Val; KV = Kumbu Val; RW = Rond Wandeling; MT = Mazaroni Top; MV = Mazaroni Val; TE = TeleSur; IT = Interpretive trail)
- Primate species (SM = Saguinus midas; SA = Sapajus apella; AM = Alouatta macconnelli; AP = Ateles paniscus; CO = Cebus olivaceus; CS = Chiropotes sagulatus; PP = Pithecia pithecia)
- Encounter rate = number of species encounters/distance walked.
File: 2014_Primate_encounter_rate_by_trail.csv
Description: Primate encounters by trail in the 2014 survey. Variables include total kilometers walked on 11 trails at Brownsberg Nature Park, Suriname, encounter frequency of seven primate species, and encounter rate (total number of encounters per species divided by total number of kilometers walked).
- Trails (MW = Mazaroni Weg; WK = Witte Kreek; JT = Jeep Trail; AKP = Agwago Kunu Pasi; IV = Irene Val; KV = Kumbu Val; RW = Rond Wandeling; MT = Mazaroni Top; MV = Mazaroni Val; TE = TeleSur; IT = Interpretive trail)
- Primate species (SM = Saguinus midas; SA = Sapajus apella; AM = Alouatta macconnelli; AP = Ateles paniscus; CO = Cebus olivaceus; CS = Chiropotes sagulatus; PP = Pithecia pithecia)
- Encounter rate = number of species encounters/distance walked.
File: 2023_Primate_encounter_rate_by_trail.csv
Description: Primate encounters by trail in the 2023 survey. Variables include total kilometers walked on 11 trails at Brownsberg Nature Park, Suriname, encounter frequency of seven primate species, and encounter rate (total number of encounters per species divided by total number of kilometers walked).
Variables
- Trails (MW = Mazaroni Weg; WK = Witte Kreek; JT = Jeep Trail; AKP = Agwago Kunu Pasi; IV = Irene Val; KV = Kumbu Val; RW = Rond Wandeling; MT = Mazaroni Top; MV = Mazaroni Val; TE = TeleSur; IT = Interpretive trail)
- Primate species (SM = Saguinus midas; SA = Sapajus apella; AM = Alouatta macconnelli; AP = Ateles paniscus; CO = Cebus olivaceus; CS = Chiropotes sagulatus; PP = Pithecia pithecia)
- Encounter rate = number of encounters/distance walked.
File: GLM_Species_Encounter-Rates_by_survey_year_and_trail.csv
Description: We used general linear modeling to test the hypothesis that encounter rates (species) and locations (trails) varied among surveys (sample years).
Variables
- Species (AM = Alouatta macconnelli; AP = Ateles paniscus; CO = Cebus olivaceus; PP = Pithecia pithecia; CS = Chiropotes sagulatus; SA = Sapajus apella; SM = Saguinus midas)
- F-species = F statistic identifying inter-specific variation.
- F-trail = F statistic identifying inter-trail variation.
- P values for species and trails with P < 0.05 representing significant differences.
- Partial Eta2 refers to the effect of survey (year) or location (trail) on species encounter rates.
- R2 = variance of species encounter rates that are explained by survey and location.
Code/software
The data were analyzed in Excel 16.77 (version 2023) and IBM SPSS Statistics version 29.
Access information
Other publicly accessible locations of the data:
- none
Data was derived from the following sources:
- Primate survey data were collected on-site at Brownsberg Nature Park, Suriname, South America in 2003, 2013, 2014, and 2023
Decadal surveys of seven species of primates at Brownsberg Nature Park, Suriname, South America, allowed us to compare variation in species encounter rates, encounter locations, and minimum group size from 2013-2023. We also compared habitat loss due to artisanal gold mining from 2003 to 2020 using satellite imaging files.
We collected encounter rates by walking trails and recording the observation of primate species, their location and minimum group size in four surveys (2003, 2013, 2014, 2023). These data were analyzed using multivariate techniques:
- We used general linear modeling (GLM) to assess factors influencing primate encounter rates (ERs) at BNP. We first conducted a single GLM across the full data set to test the effect of species differences and survey year on ERs. For this test, ER was the dependent variable, with species and survey year as the independent variables. Species were designated as a repeated effect (due to repeat measures each survey year) and ERs were pooled across all surveyed trails (i.e., each species had a cumulative ER for each survey year). We conducted Bonferroni post-hoc tests to compare pairwise differences in ERs between species.
- Jonckheere-Terpstra tests for ordered alternatives to compare minimum group size across survey years for each species.
- We created a "plateau index" to compare encounters in two habitat types. Data were analyzed using a repeated measures ANOVA to test for differences in location (plateau or slope) between and among the 2003, 2013, 2014, and 2023 surveys, with pairwise Bonferroni post hoc tests.
Habitat loss was compared using satellite images of the survey area from 2003, 2013 and 2020. To quantify forest cover, we overlaid a 100 x 100 m grid on the survey area. We then visually classified each grid cell into one of four categories based on forest cover: 100% forested, >50% forested, <50% forested, 0% forested. From these estimates, we calculated total forested area for each survey year, and using 2003 as a baseline, calculated the percent loss between 2003, 2013, and 2020.