Protected Area Size Affecting Habitat Fragmentation: A Case Study of Protected Areas in Thailand

Abstract

Habitat fragmentation is a big threat to biodiversity because habitat fragmentation reduces the total patch area, isolates the patches, and increases the edge of patches. The objectives of this study were to investigate how protected area (PA) size affects habitat fragmentation and what caused habitat fragmentation in the PAs. The study focused on 180 PAs in Thailand, including 58 wildlife sanctuaries and 122 national parks. The land use/land cover data of Thailand were acquired from the Department of Land Development of Thailand and used to quantify forest habitat fragmentation in terms of the number of patches, patch density, proportion of forest, and clumpiness index. There were significant linear relationships between the total area and number of patches and between total area and patch density. Large PAs, with a total area larger than 1, 600 km2, had significantly lower patch density than medium and small PAs. However, 128 of the 180 PAs in Thailand were small-sized with high patch density due to agricultural expansion making up approximately 10% of the protected areas. Large PAs with a size of 1600 km2 or larger are preferable over small PAs in order to reduce habitat fragmentation and contribute to biodiversity conservation.