Examination of water availability and social change

To examine how impacts of water availability impact chimpanzee behaviour, I will need to examine how social behaviour varies with seasonality, particularly in western communities where seasonality is more pronounced and drought risk is particularly high under current emissions pathways (Fongoli, Taï, Bompusa & Bossou ). If water availability drives long term changes in internal group dynamics, these sites will be the best places to examine these changes.
To project water availability in the future, I will need to examine weather variations in multiple western field sites over time and see which easily measurable environmental conditions correlate with lower water availability (e.g maximum daily temperature, minimum daily temperature, number of consecutive hours over 40°C, etc.). Then using projections of climate change under various emissions pathways, examine how these will impact the number of water sources in these communities to predict when changes to social structures will start to be observed. 
These communities are particularly vulnerable to water 

Examination of food availability

Data on food availability, predictability and seasonality from multiple field sites will be necessary to examine whether the adaptive social strategies observed in response to extreme temperatures and drought are seen under periods of limited food availability. 

Changes to intergroup conflict as a result of climate change

Timetable

Year 1 - Oct-Jan

The first year will require an intensive literature review of intergroup conflict of chimpanzee and bonobo populations, where possible time will need to be spent in 

Year 1 - Feb-May

Year 2

Year 3

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