Interação urso andino - ambiente em uma região de conflito nos Andes Centrais Peruanos: implicações de manejo e conservação da biodiversidade alto-andina

Abstract

In 2015, dwellers of the village of San Pedro de Churco expressed their discontent with the constant attacks on the livestock by Andean bears (Tremarctos ornatus) to the National Forestry and Wildlife Service (SERFOR) of Peru. Located in the high-Andean buffer zone of the Pampa Hermosa National Sanctuary (PHNS), the small village of S.P. Churco lives off subsistence agriculture and livestock, which are extensively raised by the high-Andean grasslands. Between 2013 and 2018 it was reported the death of at least two hundred cattle, the main responsible Bear Andean, generating loss of rent and retaliation of involved fauna. Based on preliminary diagnoses that confirmed the species' involvement in some predation events, partnerships were established with SERFOR, the Universidad Nacional del Centro del Perú (UNCP) and the Universidade Federal de Lavras (UFLA) to promote research in different lines of action about the human-bear conflict theme in the region of S.P. Churco. Thus, through the High Mountain Research Center of the UNCP and the Laboratory of Ecology and Conservation of Mammals at UFLA, this study was developed, focused on the ecological and biological aspects of the Andean bear population in the conflict region. This dissertation is divided into two parts, in the first we search to ecologically contextualize the region in which the study is located, as well as to present an overview of human-bear conflicts and the biology of the Andean bear. In the second part we present two chapters, in the first we search to understand how and what are the environmental and anthropic characteristics that influence the habitat use by the Andean bear. Furthermore, through camera traps it was possible to identify and quantify bear individuals in the study area. And based on our results, we tried to outline mitigation measures that were according with the reality of the village of S.P. Churco. In the second chapter, we search to survey the species of medium and large mammals in the high-Andean zone of the PHNS and its buffer zone. We found a representative diversity of the largest mammals in the area, in addition to updates in the altitudinal distribution of some species. We hope that this knowledge generated will help to mitigate the conflict, contributing to the conservation of local biodiversity and long-term sustainable development in the region.