Abstract

AYALA, Guido Marcos; VISCARRA, María Estela; TICONA, Herminio  and  WALLACE, Robert Benedict. The “Death Road” or wildlife road: Fauna surveys in the ANMI Cotapata National Park (La Paz, Bolivia). Ecología en Bolivia [online]. 2022, vol.57, n.1, pp.19-28. ISSN 1605-2528.

The "Death Road”, so called because of the high number of fatal accidents, was formerly the only connection between La Paz and northern Bolivia; even then it caused displacement and disruption of wildlife populations due to its high traffic flow. Since 2007, the new Cotapata-Santa Bárbara road has replaced this connection, causing a 90% decrease in vehicle flow. Currently, the Death Road also has considerable wildlife biodiversity and has become a popular tourist route. This work aims to report the richness and relative abundance of medium and large mammals, recorded with camera trap methodology and bird surveys on this road and adjacent areas, 10 years after it ceased to be a heavily traveled road. A total of 35 camera trap stations were installed, obtaining an effort of 515.43 traps per night (TN), recording a total of 16 species of medium and large mammals and 94 species of wild birds. The species with the highest abundances were Zentrygon frenata, Mazama chunyi, Penelope montagni, Cuniculus taczanowskii and Leopardus tigrinus. This work is the first carried out on this road and therefore contributes valuable information on the richness and abundance of mammals and birds, being relevant as a baseline. However, a longterm monitoring is necessary.

Keywords : Camera traps; Capture rates; Montane forest; Roads; Species richness.

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