The effect of habitat fragmentation on Malay tapir relative abundance in Thailand’s protected areas

Abstract Habitat fragmentation threatens the persistence of mammals in tropical regions. Malay tapir (Tapirus indicus) is a globally-endangered species, and its distribution is largely confined to fragmented habitats within protected areas. However, it is unclear how that fragmentation affects its relative abundance. Here, we investigated the effects of habitat fragmentation on Malay tapir relative abundance in Thailand. We first quantified the spatial patterns of habitat fragmentation within nine of Thailand’s protected areas. Second, we assessed the relationship of fragmentation metrics and the relative abundance of Malay tapirs. Third, we identified the relative importance of the fragmentation metrics in explaining the relative abundance. We found high Malay tapir relative abundance in the Southern forest complex despite the fact that tapir habitats were significantly more fragmented there than in the protected areas in the Western forest complex (P < 0.05). Additionally, we found that the patch density, clumpiness index, proportion of habitat, and landscape shape index explained the relative abundance patterns well (R² = 0.79) with the patch density explaining most of the variance (39.55%). Our finding highlights the urgent need to increase connectivity of forest habitats within the protected areas to support the long-term viability of Malay tapirs in Thailand.