Abstract 212 – Occupancy monitoring of Andean bears in the North Tiquipaya Municipal Wildlife Reserve in Cochabamba, Bolivia.

Andrea Fuentes and Sara Flores

Andean bears (Tremarctos ornatus) are the only bear species that lives in South America
distributed throughout the Tropical Andes, one of the most diverse ecoregions and strongly
threatened by constant population growth and habitat fragmentation. Although many
protected areas in Bolivia align with the distribution of this species, most of them need
effective tools to understand local dynamics between bear populations and human activities
that could lead to human-bear conflict. This is the case of the North Tiquipaya Municipal
Wildlife Reserve, located at the lower limit of Conservation Unit 5 of the Andean bear (Wallace
et al., 2014). We present progress on monitoring the occupancy of Andean bears in the
Municipal Reserve and key local factors that could affect the probability of occupancy of the
species in the area. This information will contribute to greater efforts throughout the region to
increase knowledge about Andean bear populations. In addition, it will help design effective
livestock management interventions with local communities, since occupation has great power
to detect changes.