Spectacled bear habitat use in the historical sanctuary of Machu Picchu and adjacent areas

Abstract

and 1982, the Historical Sanctuary of Machu Picchu and surrounding areas were studied to describe and classify the vegetation habitat types where spectacled bears (Tremarctos ornatus) live, identify possible vegetative units important to the bears (e.g.important habitat components), and determine their use by bears and humans.Criteria were defined to evaluate the ability of the habitat types to provide spectacled bears with their biological and ecological needs, based on both observed and extrapolated information.The criteria used were minimum or maximum vegetative and environmental values found to be significantly different between 143 randomly selected sites and 135 sites that contained bear sign.Six of the nine habitat types identified in the study area contained bear sign.Seven important habitat components located in four of the habitat types contained 83% of the sites with bear sign.One important habitat component was found in subalpine paramo (3,600 -4,150), one was found in rain paramo (3,400 -4,000 ffl), two were found in high steppe (3,100 -3,400 m), and four were found in very humid forests (2,000 -2,700 m).Four criteria on which to judge the quality of a site were defined for both grassland and forest habitat types.A site that satisfied the conditions of two of the four criteria was judged to adequately provide spectacled bears with their needs (e.g.good quality).Criteria defined for grassland habitat types were: hiding cover, slope, number of food species, and food abundance.Criteria defined for forested habitat types were; slope, vegetation density between 0.15 and 1,0 m above the ground, number of food species, and food abundance.Almost all of the sites with bear sign (96.5%) and 32.9% of the randomly selected sites, were considered to be good quality habitat.The proportion of good quality sites that were randomly selected by me in the sanctuary (27.3%) was less than the proportion of these sites in adjacent areas (51.5%).Approximately 57% (18,500 ha) of the sanctuary was subject to frequent fires, grazing, and crop growing.Better quality habitat with less human disturbance was found in the Lucumayo and Santa Teresa drainages that border the Sanctuary.