MANU NATIONAL PARK

GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION

The park is located in the provinces of Manu and Paucartambo (Departments of Madre de Dios and Cuzco respectively), comprising lands on the eastern slopes of the Andes and on the Peruvian Amazones. The limits to the north are the watershed separating the catchment basins of Manu and de las Piedras rivers (72° 01'W, 11° 17'S); to the south the area where the road from Paucartambo to the north-west turns to Tres Cruces (71° 30'W, 13° 11'S); to the east the region on the left margin of the Alto Madre de Dios River to the Pilcopata River, Department of Cuzco (71° 10'W, 12° 18'S); and to the west the watershed separating the catchment basins of the Manu and Camisea Rivers - also the limit between the Departments of Cuzco and Madre de Dios (72° 22'W, 11° 45'S).

DATE AND HISTORY OF ESTABLISHMENT

Established by Supreme Decree No. 644-73-AG, 29 May 1973, and fully protected. Internationally recognized as a Biosphere Reserve under UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere Programme in 1977, along with Manu Reserved Zone established by Supreme Resolution No. 151-1980, and adjacent areas of human settlement. Manu National Park was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1987.

AREA

Manu National Park covers 1,532,806ha. In addition to this the Biosphere Reserve includes a 257,000ha Reserved Zone, and a further 91,395ha 'cultural zone', giving a total area of 1,881,200ha.

ALTITUDE :

From 365m (Manu River mouth) to 4,000m (Cerro Huascar)

PHYSICAL FEATURES:

The park is located on the eastern slopes of he Andes and extends down from precipitous mountains. The entire area is situated within the Amazon River basin and protects almost the entire watershed of the River Manu and most of the tributaries of the River Alto Madre de Dios. Alluvial plains are found along the rivers where sediments may be deposited on a seasonal basis. The hills occupy the lowlands between the rivers and are relatively small with slopes between 15% and 50%, forming an undulating topography, which covers much of the park. The alluvial plains and hills above 1,500m mainly comprise sedimentary rocks of the Superior Tertiary (1 to 111 million years old) and Recent Quaternary (less than 1 million years old). The mountainous area above 1,500m is formed of sedimentary and metamorphic rocks of the Precambrian and Palaeozoic era (more than 440 million years old). The adjacent reserved zone mainly comprises the flood plains of the lower Manu river, down to its confluence with the Rio Alto Madre de Dios, and over long periods of time the river has wandered over the plain leaving a number of ox-bow lakes.

CLIMATE :

The area has a wide range of climates, from the cold, dry Andes to the hot, humid Amazon forests. There are however, no long term records of rainfall or temperature in the park, and up to 1985 continuous records of rainfall were only available for two years (1976 and 1982). At the Biological Station of Cocha Cashu (400m), the rainfall between September 1976 and August 1977 was 2100mm. There is a rainy season from October to April with an average monthly rainfall of more than 200mm. From early May to late September rainfall decreases to less than 100mm per month. There is a slight variation of air temperature during the year. The coldest month is June with an average temperature of 11.1° C the hottest month is October with 25.4° C. There are virtually no records of rainfall within the park above 650m. At Pilcopata (650m) the mean annual rainfall (1971-1980) was 3929mm and all months have more than 100mm of rain. July is the driest month with an average rainfall of 188mm. Higher up into the Andes rainfall drops again, and temperatures fall significantly to average a few degrees above zero. Fog is common all year round in mountain forest regions.

VEGETATION :

With a park the size of Manu, with a wide range of altitude, vegetation varies widely, however the most widespread vegetation types found are tropical lowland rainforest, tropical montane rainforest and Puna vegetation (grasslands). The lowland forests occur on the alluvial plains and the interfluvial hills. Those on the hills may experience seasonal water supply, given the monthly variation in rainfall, while the forests on the alluvial plains are likely to be seasonally flooded. The montane forests experience less variation in the water supply and are exposed to lower temperatures. The management plan (La Molina, 1986) maps 14 forest types using the Holdridge system (after Tosi, 1960), although, given the lack of rainfall data, this must be to some extent speculative. Despite the high diversity of plant species in this region, the flora of Manu is still poorly known and floristic inventories must be considered as preliminary (Gentry, 1985). The few collections of plants are those of Foster (1985) and Gentry (1985) made in the alluvial plains near the Biological Station, and in the Tres Cruces region of the uplands. Other collections have been made by Terborgh (1985) and Janson (1985) on trees where birds and primates obtain food. Despite this, in the last ten years, 1147 plant species have been identified in the park within quite a small area (500ha), and it is likely that the number of species to be found within the park is well over this figure. More recent data (Saavedra, 1989) indicate 1,200 lowland vascular species and a single one hectare plot near the Cocha Cashu research station supported more than 200 tree species.

In a hectare plot on the alluvial plains, 17 trees with a diameter of more than 70cm were found (4 to 11 trees with such a diameter would be more usual). The biggest tree was a Ceiba pentandra (120cm), while others included the locally rare Poulsenia armata (110cm) and Calycophyllum sp. (117cm), and locally endangered Swietenia macrophylla (105cm) and Dipteryx odorata (100cm). The most common tree in the plot was Otoba parviflora (IK), and other highly abundant species included palms of the genera Astrocaryum, Iriartea and Scheelea, two species of Quararibea (Bombacaceae), Guarea and Trichilia (both Meliaceae from the subcanopy), one Pouteria (Sapotaceae), Pseudolmedia laevis (Moraceae) and Theobroma cacao (Sterculiaceae). Another striking feature of these forests is the high abundance of Ficus spp., of which there are at least 18 species - only 15 Ficus species are mentioned in the Flora of Peru (Standley, 1937). Lianas are common, and 79 lianas of 43 species were found within 1,000 sq.m. With the current knowledge of the flora of the park it is not possible to give a detailed account of threatened, endemic or potentially economically important species. Swietenia macrophylla and Cedrela odorata which grow in almost pure stands, are two of the species economically important for their wood, while Theobroma cacao and Quararibea cordata (IK) are both cultivated for their fruits outside the park.

FAUNA :

A total of more than 800 bird species (Saavedra, 1989) and 200 species of mammals has been identified, 500 birds alone from the lowland forests around Cocha Cashu Biological Station, and the check lists of Terborgh, Janson and Brecht (1984) give habitats, foraging position, activity (sociability) and abundance for all birds and mammals found up to 1982. The bird species found in Manu represent 25% of all the birds known in South America and 10% of all the species in the world and it is thought that there may be as many 1,000 bird species in total. According to Renton (1990), six species of macaw occur in the lowland forest, Ara ararauna, A. chloroptera, A. macao, A. severa, and A. manilata. Three Endemic Bird Areas are represented within the park, the South-east Peruvian lowlands (B30), home to 15 restricted range species, the Eastern Andes of Peru (B29), with 11 restricted range species, and the Western Andes of Peru (B27) with 30 restricted range species (ICBP, 1992). There are 13 species of monkey, and it is estimated that there are over 100 species of bat. There are also 12 species of reptiles within 7 families (UNA-CEPID, 1986), and 77 species of Amphibian from fire families are known for the Cocha Cashu area (Rodriguez, in press). There are no check lists available for invertebrates, although it has been estimated that the park contains around 500,000 species of arthropod. Again, most of the information has been gathered in the lowlands, and little detailed information is available on mountain fauna. Species known to be globally threatened which occur in the park include woolly monkey Lagothrix lagotricha, Emperor tamarin Saguinus imperator, giant otter Pteronura brasiliensis , giant anteater Myrmecophaga tridactyla , giant armadillo Priodontes maximus , ocelot Felis pardalis, Andean cat Oreailurus jacobita , jaguar Panthera onca, small-eared zorro Atelocynus microtis , bush dog Speothos venaticus , North Andean Huemul Hippocamelus antisensis , spectacled bear Tremarctos ornatus , crocodile crocodilus crocodilus, and black caiman Melanosuchus niger Fish species identified by Groenendijk and Hajek (1995) which are eaten by the local poplulation include gamitana Colossoma macroponum, paco Piaratus brachypomus red-tailed sabalo Brycon erythropterum, boquichico Prochilodus nigricans, lisa Leporinus trifasciatus and lisa Schizodon fasciatus.

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