The Dinghushan National Nature Reserve located in subtropical China faced typhoon Mangkhut in 2018. This led to damage to the vegetation and highlighted the sensitivity of the ecosystem to storms that will inevitably emerge as a result of climate change. Tree population comparisons and damage, before and after the typhoon, had previously not been reported and therefore a need emerged to study the effects of the typhoon on the forest community in Dinghushan.

Researchers from the South China Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences used the forest composition data of Dinghushan forest for the years 2015, 2018, and 2020 to study the typhoon’s effects and establish a scientific basis for the restoration of natural forests such as Dinghushan and other forests that are susceptible to typhoon damage. Their findings showed that trees that have a DBH of less than 5cm and a height of less than 2 m were more prone to damage in the event of a storm. There was also a decline in the species abundance and also a decline in the tree population per hectare with a loss of 672 species per hectare in 2018 compared to 2015 as a result of the typhoon.

Of interest was the forest's remarkable ability to bounce back as there was an increase in biomass when 2018 was compared to 2020. It is therefore of utmost importance that strategies be put in place to protect this ecosystem and others of a similar nature, by employing the use of natural forests that have great resilience against typhoons. This study, entitled “Effects of Typhoon Mangkhut on a Monsoon Evergreen Broad-Leaved Forest Community in Dinghushan Nature Reserve, Lower Subtropical China”, has been published online in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. Professor LI Yuelin was both the first author and the corresponding author.

For more details, please refer to: https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2021.692155.