Title
Decision Making for the Conservation of Andean Bears Using Presence-Absence Data.
Author(s)
Marquez, Robert; Goldstein, Isaac
Published
2017
Abstract
The Andean bear is a conservation objective at many protected areas in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. There is a lack of operational tools to diagnose and implement actions for the effective management and conservation of the species. Moreover, the conservation of the populations at the protected area (PA) level often requires the diagnostic and implementation of interventions beyond the PA limits. To solve the problem, we have been using occupation modeling based on presence-absence data of the Andean bear and the identified threats to develop the framework for the analysis of the conservation state of the Andean bear populations. The occupancy of the Andean bears was analyzed considering two different sample units: 16 km2 and 1 Km2. The analysis at the 16 km2 scale focus on the conservation state of the population assuming a correlation between the occupancy and the abundance of the species. The analysis at the 1km2 scale, focus on the factors (threats and management interventions) that affect the use and in consequence the occupancy of the species. As an example, the occupancy models at the Machu Picchu Historic Sanctuary in Peru and at the Tatamá National Park in Colombia, showed that the presence of cattle was a key factor impacting occupancy. The planning of the control and vigilance activities at the two protected areas were changed based on the occupancy model findings.
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PUB26838