Species loss from land use of oil palm plantations in Thailand
Ukrit Jaroenkietkajorn, Shabbir H. Gheewala, Laura Scherer
Abstract
Expansion of oil palm plantation areas in Thailand, the world's third-largest oil palm producer, for food and fuel may sometimes encroach on forest areas, leading to biodiversity loss. Thailand is in the Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspot, which contains high species richness. This study assesses the impacts of oil palm plantations on bird and insect species richness from land use in the five regions of Thailand by using the countryside Species-Area Relationship model. Data from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) and Thailand’s Land Development Department (LDD) were used for species occurrence and land use data, respectively. This study focuses on the deforestation for oil palm because it poses the highest risk for wildlife compared to other habitats. The taxon affinity and regional characterization factors show the risk to wildlife (birds and insects) in the formerly natural habitat areas (i.e., deciduous, evergreen, and mangrove forests). The results show that the possibility of animal survival in former mangrove forests is higher than in other forests upon occupation, as demonstrated by the taxon affinity. Likewise, deforestation in the northern region causes the least species loss per area, as demonstrated by the lowest average regional characterization factor, because species densities are lowest. However, the impacts on species richness depend on the taxon and the combination of the region and the forest type. While the overall goal should be to minimize the expansion of oil palm, this study indicates in which forest type and Thai region land occupation causes less regional bird and insect species loss.