Abstract

Assessing biodiversity within protected areas requires consideration of not only the extent of protection but also multiple dimensions of biodiversity, including species richness, composition, and turnover. This issue is particularly relevant to the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework Target 3, which emphasizes area-based conservation by protecting 30% of terrestrial areas by 2030. However, empirical case studies examining how plant biodiversity is associated with protection coverage at fine spatial scales within protected areas remain limited, particularly in East Asian temperate forests. We aimed to examine the relationships between grid-scale protection coverage and plant species richness, species composition, species turnover, and multisite species-sharing structures within the core zone of the Baekdudaegan Protected Area in Korea. Plant biodiversity was analyzed using 60 grid cells (each 1:25,000 topographic sheet units, ~100 km2) located within legally protected core zones with minimal human disturbance. Negative binomial regression, beta regression, non-metric multidimensional scaling, and ζ-diversity analyses were applied to evaluate relationships between protected area extent and biodiversity patterns. Core-zone area with greater protection coverage supported higher plant species; however, climate and topography were stronger drivers of species richness. Species turnover and community assembly patterns were not significantly associated with protection coverage. ζ-diversity analyses supported a power-law model across all area groups, indicating deterministic community assembly driven by environmental filtering. These findings suggest that protection coverage is positively associated with α-diversity but shows no clear association with qualitative aspects of biodiversity such as species turnover and community assembly. Although our correlational design does not allow causal inference, the results suggest that future conservation policy should incorporate habitat quality, environmental representativeness, and ecological connectivity alongside area expansion.

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