• Difficult terrain, dense vegetation and the behaviors of elusive or cryptic animals can make the direct study of these species, their activity patterns, and interactions difficult.1

• Camera traps allow researchers to passively monitor some of these species and their behaviors, complementing direct observation methods such as census surveys.2

• These methods also help to monitor long-term changes in the diversity and distribution of species in our changing climate.2,3

• To record and monitor the presence and activity patterns of medium and large fauna at a relatively new field site. 

• To provide baseline on the status of current biodiversity for long-term species monitoring at the field site.

• Study Site: A 2-month study was conducted at the Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo Soqtapata, a recently established field site in the montane Andean-Amazon region of Perú (Fig. 1).

• Data Collection: A total of 10 camera traps were rotated biweekly between June and July of 2024 in 9 different locations.

• Data Analysis: Images and videos from camera traps were reviewed manually. For each individual visit (i.e., appearance of an animal spaced by at least 30 mins apart), we recorded the associated location, time, and temperature. Data were summarized and visualized with R in R-Studio.

• A total of 55 unique visits were recorded in 3,288 hours of active monitoring across 9 sites. 

• Most visits (69%) occurred between dusk and dawn, with the highest frequency of occurrence between 7pm and 4am (Fig. 2).

• Rodents (order Rodentia) made up 42% of observations, birds (class Aves) 38%, and armadillos (order Cingulata) 13% (Fig. 2). The remaining 7% of observations included peccaries, bats, and carnivores, including the elusive tigrillo (Leopardus trigrinus) and the prehensile-tailed porcupine (Coendou prehensilis), which had been observed by locals yet not documented photographically (Figs. 2-4). 

• This study offered a preliminary assessment and photographic evidence of the species living at this field site. 

• The activity patterns of nocturnal or cathemeral species may be hard to observe due to the difficulty of observation past sunset.

• Observations of the prehensile-tailed porcupine and the tigrillo (Fig. 4) support the need for monitoring in arboreal and terrestrial substrates.

• This information will be key in developing a more complete inventory of animals present at Soqtapata, and provide baseline data for designing effective conservation strategies for highly biodiverse areas such as the Andean-Amazon region. 

• This study, in combination with census surveys and passive acoustic monitoring of species, will allow us to evaluate the efficacy of different techniques for monitoring populations and species behavior in remote or non-navigable terrains. 

• Long-term studies using remote methods, such as camera traps, will allow us to monitor changes in the distribution of biodiversity at Soqtapata in response to climate change and other anthropogenic impacts.

1 Ridout, M. S., & Linkie, M.. 2009. Estimating overlap of daily activity patterns from camera trap data. Journal of Agricultural, Biological, and Environmental Statistics, 14, 322-337. 2 Karanth, K.U. and Nichols, J.D. 1998. Estimation of tiger densities in India using photographic captures and recaptures. Ecology, 79: 2852-2862. 3 Tobler, M.W., Carrillo-Percastegui, S.E., Leite Pitman, R., Mares, R. and Powell, G.. 2008. An evaluation of camera traps for inventorying large- and medium-sized terrestrial rainforest mammals. Animal Conservation, 11: 169-178

We thank the Peruvian government for providing the permits to conduct this research. Special thanks to the Soqtapata Conservation Concession management: Rafael Pilares, Ana Robles, José Pilares, and volunteers. This project was funded by the Rebecca Jeanne Andrews Memorial Award, the Office of Undergraduate Research, and the Career Center for Exploration and Success at Miami University.