Camera trapping reveals a diverse and unique high-elevation mammal community under threat R UTHMERY P ILLCO H UARCAYA,CHRISTOPHER B EIRNE S HIRLEY J ENNIFER S ERRANO R OJAS and A NDREW W HITWORTH Abstract The Cerros del Sira in Peru is known to hold a Introduction diverse composition of endemic birds, amphibians and plants as a result of its geographical isolation, yet its mammalian he Cerros del Sira is an isolated mountain range in community remains poorly known. There is increasing TPeru, home to a diverse and unique flora and fauna. awareness of the threats to high-elevation species but study- The summits rise from the left bank of the Ucayali River, ing them is often hindered by rugged terrain. We present the with rugged terrain that extends over five elevational zones – first camera-trap study of the mammal community of the ( , m). Such isolation predisposes the Cerros del Cerros del Sira. We used camera traps placed at regular Sira to host a large number of endemic species but also elevational intervals over –, m, detecting medium- means that these species and their habitats are sensitive sized and large mammal species. Eight are listed as threatened to human-driven forest disturbance and climatic change on the IUCN Red List, three are categorized as Data Deficient (Forero-Medina et al., ). Although climatic changes are and one is yet to be assessed. Although other authors have not of dramatic consequence for species residing in low-lying reported that the upper elevations of the Cerros del Sira are well-connected habitat, tropical species in isolated ranges, free from hunting, we found evidence of hunting activity such as the Cerros del Sira, will have no suitable habitat to occurring above , m, and inside the core protected shift to, and could be outcompeted by low-elevation species area. In addition to this direct evidence of hunting, recent moving to higher altitudes (Tewksbury et al., ). information has identified significant amounts of canopy Marginalized and difficult-to-access areas with little loss in the northern reaches of the core zone. Despite wide- attraction for agriculture have historically been passively spread ecological degradation in the surrounding lowlands, protected from anthropogenic disturbance. These lands the high-elevation areas of the Cerros del Sira still maintain are remote, nutrient poor, and steep, and are ideal for a unique assemblage of lowland and highland tropical rain- governments to assign for protection (Nelson & Chomitz, forest mammals. It has been assumed that the Cerros del ; Harris et al., ). However, the passive protection Sira and other similar remote locations are safe from dis- provided by such remoteness is increasingly being ques- turbance and protected by their isolation but we suggest tioned (e.g. Poulsen et al., ). Evidence indicates that this is an increasingly dangerous assumption to make, and many remote protected regions are undergoing defaunation secure protection strategies need to be developed. of medium-sized and large vertebrates (Fa et al., ; Galetti & Dirzo, ), and fragmented landscapes facilitate Keywords Camera traps, El Sira, habitat loss, hunting, oncilla, access for illegal activities in remote areas (Michalski & Leopardus tigrinus, Peru, spectacled bear, Tremarctos ornatus Peres, ). In the case of Sira, Novoa et al. () reported Supplementary material for this article is available at the loss of , ha of forest to agriculture and grazing inside – https://doi.org/./S the Sira Communal Reserve during . Although surveys on birds (Terborgh & Weske, ; Mee et al., ; Corvacho et al., ; Forero-Medina et al., ), amphibians and reptiles (Duellman & Toft, RUTHMERY PILLCO HUARCAYA* (Corresponding author, orcid.org/0000-0003- ; Aichinger, ), and flowering plants (Wasshausen, 0068-3852) and ANDREW WHITWORTH† Osa Conservation, 1012 14th Street NW, Suite 625, Washington, DC 20005, USA ; Monteagudo Mendoza & Huamán Guerrero, ) E-mail [email protected] have been carried out in the Cerros del Sira, the mammalian CHRISTOPHER BEIRNE‡ Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, fauna remains poorly documented. Large and medium- Exeter, UK sized mammals play a fundamental role in the functioning SHIRLEY JENNIFER SERRANO ROJAS Universidad Nacional San Antonio Abad del of Amazonian ecosystems, including control of prey popu- Cusco, Cusco, Peru lations (Estes et al., ; Ripple et al., , ) and seed *Also at: Universidad Nacional San Antonio Abad del Cusco, Cusco, Peru dispersal (Miller et al., ; Fløjgaard et al., ), but their †Also at: Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, large home ranges and slow reproductive rates make them Glasgow, UK particularly sensitive to habitat fragmentation and hunting ‡Also at: Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA (Fisher & Owens, ; Cardillo et al., ). Camera traps are well-suited for surveys in remote Received April . Revision requested June . Accepted August . First published online April . locations with poor local infrastructure and harsh terrain This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, Downloadeddistribution, from https://www.cambridge.org/core and reproduction in any medium,. IP address: provided 170.106.33.19 the original work, onis 02 properly Oct 2021 cited. at 05:04:26, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/termsOryx, 2020, 54(6), 901–908 ©. https://doi.org/10.1017/S00306053180010962019 Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S0030605318001096 902 R. Pillco Huarcaya et al. FIG. 1 Location of transect used in a camera-trap survey of medium-sized and large mammals in Sira Communal Reserve, Peru, and deforestation in the region during – (Hansen et al., ). (e.g. Jiménez et al., ; Beirne et al., ), and we present cattle farmers. Mining and oil concessions now cover almost the first camera-trap survey of the mammalian community the entire area (Finer et al., ;Novoaetal.,). of the Cerros del Sira. We used terrestrial camera traps over years along a previously unstudied elevational gradi- ent, with the aim of laying a foundation for future research, Methods monitoring and conservation planning efforts in one of the last intact forest landscapes in the central region of the Camera traps (Trophy Cam, Bushnell, Overland Park, USA) Peruvian Amazon. were deployed in mid to late March and removed at the beginning of September (dry season) in and . Cameras were placed cm above the ground, and all low Study area vegetation within m was cleared to standardize detection probabilities. Cameras were programmed to record a s The Sira Communal Reserve is situated between the Ucayali video, with intervals of s between successive triggers River to the east and the Pachitea River to the west. It is (Meek et al., ; Beirne et al., ). Of the cameras de- the largest community reserve in Peru, forming part of ployed in , were set to monitor medium-sized and the Oxapampa–Asháninka–Yánesha Biosphere Reserve, large vertebrates (including the Critically Endangered Sira located in the departments of Pasco, Huánuco and Ucayali, curassow Pauxi koepckeae; Beirne et al., ) and two with an area of , ha and a buffer area of ,, ha were placed at the entry point to the ridgeline ( m eleva- (INRENA, ). The core protected area encompasses the tion) and at our principal campsite ( m), to monitor Cerros del Sira Mountains, and the surrounding buffer area hunting activity. Thirteen cameras were placed at elevation- comprises a local human population of ethnic groups of al intervals of m between and , m, four were Ashaninka, Asheninka, Shipibo-Conibo and Yanesha, and placed at intervals of m between , and , m rural communities of Andean migrants (Benavides et al., and two were placed at water sources (a clay lick at , m ). Our study transect is to the east of Puerto Inca, and a stream at , m). In , camera traps were in the province of Huánuco (Fig. ), along a previously un- placed at elevational intervals of m between and studied ridgeline on the north-western border of the Sira , m to monitor the vertebrate community, and two Communal Reserve. The transect covers both lower and were placed at the same water source locations used in upper montane forests, and elfin forest towards the highest . As people were also detected by the wildlife cameras elevations. Mean annual precipitation is c. , mm in the along the ridgeline in , camera traps were not set specif- montane forest and up to , mm on the peaks (, m). ically to target hunting activity in . The camera-trap The remoteness of the area has attracted illegal extractive rate was calculated for every given species as the number industries, including coca cultivation (for cocaine produc- of videos/ camera-trap days. Non-independent events, tion), gold mining, poaching and logging. The construction defined as videos of the same species at the same location of roads since has attracted the private sector, with tim- within minutes of a previous detection, were excluded ber and agricultural corporations replacing many of the local from the calculation. Oryx, 2020, 54(6), 901–908 © 2019 Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S0030605318001096 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 170.106.33.19, on 02 Oct 2021 at 05:04:26, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0030605318001096 Camera trapping and mammals 903 PLATE 1 Threatened and rare mammals of the Sira Communal Reserve, Peru (Fig. ), and direct evidence of hunting activity at high elevations within the Reserve, recorded on camera traps. (a) Panthera onca and (b) Tremarctos ornatus (both captured at the same camera trap, at , m), (c) Myrmecophaga tridactyla, (d) Tapirus terrestris, (e) Dinomys branickii, (f) Leopardus tigrinus,(g)Mustela frenata, (h) Atelocynus microtis, (i) Lagothrix cana, and (j) a hunter carrying a shotgun at , m within the core area of the Reserve.