Thailand is a biodiversity hotspot and home to over 1000 bird species, 15,000 plant species, and five of the World Wildlife Fund’s Global 200 Ecoregions of ecological significance. To preserve their unique ecosystems, the Thai government has established and maintained protected areas (PA) which in 2020, are estimated to cover 19% of Thailand’s land area. The success of these areas in preserving biodiversity to date is somewhat ambiguous. Using gap analyses, we evaluated the extent and adequacy of coverage provided by these PAs for the preservation of these unique ecoregions, to threatened amphibian, bird, and mammal species richness hotspots and at a range of altitudes within Thailand.

Regionally, the Indochina dry forests, Northern Khorat Plateau moist deciduous forests and Malaysian Peninsula rainforests are all under-represented. Though opportunities exist for their protection through marine designation, mangrove and wetland ecosystems are also seriously under-represented in the current spatial layout and network connectivity of Thailand’s protected area system. Highland areas (>750 m elevation) are well-protected, in contrast to the lower altitude areas where human and agricultural pressures are higher. Hotspots of threatened birds located in the northern and southern regions of Thailand, as well as most of the central threatened mammal hotspot, are inadequately covered (<10%). The current PAs could be expanded with a focus on these key areas, or further PAs created to address these gaps in provision. The Thai PA network is also highly fragmented and, in addition to increasing the area covered, contiguity and connectivity of the network should be considered. With human population expansion in the central lowland area particularly, there will be challenges and trade-offs to be negotiated along with enforcement within existing areas. We hope, though, that the results of this study can aid policymakers in improving Thai conservation effectiveness.

泰国是生物多样性的热点地区，这里有1000多种鸟类，15,000种植物以及世界野生动物基金会（World Wildlife Fund）的具有生态意义的全球200个生态区中的五个。为了保护其独特的生态系统，泰国政府已建立并维护了保护区（PA），该保护区到2020年估计将覆盖泰国陆地面积的19％。这些地区迄今为止在保护生物多样性方面的成功还有些模棱两可。使用差距分析，我们评估了这些保护区为保护这些独特的生态区，受威胁的两栖动物，鸟类和哺乳动物物种丰富度热点以及泰国境内不同海拔高度提供的覆盖范围和充分性。

在区域上，印度支那的干林，北呼拉特高原湿润的落叶林和马来西亚半岛的雨林的代表性都不足。尽管存在通过海洋命名对其进行保护的机会，但在泰国保护区系统的当前空间布局和网络连通性中，红树林和湿地生态系统也严重不足。高海拔地区（海拔> 750 m）受到良好保护，而人和农业压力较高的低海拔地区则相反。位于泰国北部和南部地区的受威胁鸟类热点以及大多数中部受威胁哺乳动物热点未被充分覆盖（<10％）。可以将重点放在这些关键领域上来扩展当前的PA，或者可以创建更多的PA来解决这些提供方面的差距。Thai PA网络也高度分散，除了增加覆盖范围外，还应考虑网络的连续性和连通性。尤其是随着中部低地地区人口的增长，在现有地区内执行执法工作时将面临挑战和权衡取舍。但是，我们希望这项研究的结果可以帮助决策者提高泰国的保护有效性。