PRIMATE FRUGIVORY IN KIBALE NATIONAL-PARK, UGANDA, AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR HUMAN USE OF FOREST RESOURCES

In an attempt to understand the practical and/or economic implications of primate seed dispersal, it was established which seed species are dispersed by frugivorous primates in Kibale National Park, Uganda, and which of this sort of species were used by Ugandan people. A list of fruit species consumed by Kibale primates was compiled using primary d ata and by reviewing all known published accounts of their fruit diet. Primates consume the fruit of 87 Kibale forest tree species; the seed s of 11% of these species are destroyed by the primates. The remaining 77 species are dispersed by either one, two, three or all four of the frugivorous Kibale primates. Of these 77 species, 42% have some utili ty to local Ugandan inhabitants, suggesting that maintaining populatio ns of primates is important not only for natural forest regeneration, but also for human habitat use. This report illustrates the complexity of the seed dispersal process and suggests links not only between pla nts and their dispersers, but also between sets of plants/dispersers a nd the human populations that rely on forest resources.