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Paper short abstract:

We use whole genome sequences of four sympatric but socio-ecologically contrasting primates to unravel their past demographic changes and spatial dynamics across West African landscapes

Paper long abstract:

West African landscapes are among the most impacted by the rapid increase of the human population and their associated activities. Anthropogenic landscapes are characterized by rapid changes in the habitat mosaic, with natural habitats being converted for agriculture and human settlements. Moreover, communities living alongside forests and wildlife, often rely on these resources for their own subsistence. Non-human primates are usually negatively affected by these human-related impacts, with most species being threatened to extinction. Here we used a genomic approach to infer the past demographic history, the genetic diversity and population structure of two strictly forest dependent primates, the Western red colobus – Piliocolobus badius - and Western black-and-white colobus – Colobus polykomos, and two more ecologically plastic species, the Guinean baboon – Papio papio – and the Western chimpanzee – Pan troglodytes verus in the Upper Guinean Forests. We sequenced genomes of 31 wild individuals from The Gambia, Guinea Bissau and Ivory Coast, to a mean of 13-fold coverage per individual ,to perform the population genomic analyses. We found that all four West African primates have undergone several populations size changes but occurring in different historical periods, suggesting that they are differently affected by the same factors. The demographic histories of the two most forest dependent primates (the two colobus) overlap extensively. Interestingly, baboons and chimpanzees show opposite demographic trends, which may reflect their inter-specific interactions. The resolution provided by the whole genome data allow us to unravel more subtle impacts of anthropogenic activities address the conservation concerns affecting each primate across West Africa.