DOI: 10.5061/dryad.2jm63xt0m
title: Data from: Ecological resilience in a primate community affected by gold mining in Suriname

description: 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.  
description: 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, &gt;50% forested, &lt;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.
description: # Data from: Ecological resilience in a primate community affected by gold
 mining in Suriname
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.2jm63xt0m](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 &lt; 0.05 representing significant differences. * Partial Eta^2^ refers to the effect of survey (year) or location (trail) on species encounter rates.  * R^2^ = 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