Yinggeling Nature Reserve

Yinggeling Nature Reserve

Yinggeling Nature Reserve is a national nature reserve.

Hainan Yinggeling Nature Reserve is situated in the central-southern part of Hainan Island, between 109°11′27″E to 109°34′06″E longitude and 18°49′30″N to 19°08′41″N latitude. It spans five cities and counties — Baisha, Qiongzhong, Wuzhishan, Ledong, and Changjiang — with a total area of 50,464 hectares. The reserve stretches approximately 33 km from north to south and about 39 km from east to west. Its lowest elevation is 170 m, while the highest reaches 1,812 m.

The reserve is the main source of Hainan’s two largest rivers: the Nandu River, the island’s biggest, and the Changhua River, the second largest. As early as 1981, the Forestry Bureau of the Hainan Li and Miao Autonomous Prefecture designated Yinggeling and its surrounding areas as a key state-owned water conservation forest reserve. In 2004, the People’s Government of Hainan Province approved the establishment of the Hainan Yinggeling Provincial Nature Reserve under Document Qiong Fu Ban [2004] No. 56, placing it under the administration of the Hainan Provincial Forestry Department. A management station was set up in 2006 to independently carry out the functions of nature reserve management. In 2014, it was promoted to a national nature reserve with approval from the State Council.

Yinggeling preserves the largest contiguous tract of tropical forest in southern China. Nearly 64.2% of the reserve consists of primary forests that remain largely undisturbed by human activity. It is currently the largest nature reserve in Hainan, featuring the most complex natural landscape conditions in the province. The area boasts rich biodiversity and numerous rare and endangered species, many of which are still undiscovered. It has been listed as a priority area for biodiversity conservation in the China Biodiversity Conservation Strategy and Action Plan (2011–2030).

The reserve lies in the transitional zone from the tropics to the subtropics, positioned at the boundary between the northern and southern parts of Hainan Island, which is primarily divided by heat factors, and also at the boundary between the wet and dry zones, determined mainly by moisture. In terms of plant biogeography, it sits in a typical transition and convergence zone, and in terms of animal distribution, it reflects the transitional nature between tropical and subtropical zones. Compared to other reserves in Hainan, Yinggeling has the most complete and complex animal ecological units. Endemic vertebrate species recorded in Yinggeling account for 81.4% of all known endemic species in Hainan, and these endemic species make up 8.12% of the total known species in the reserve — a level of endemism unmatched by other reserves in the province. A large number of species here remain unrecorded and unknown to science. It serves as an edge distribution area for many tropical and subtropical species and holds significant importance for the study of biogeography.

According to the scientific survey report from 2003 to 2005 and subsequent supplementary investigations, Yinggeling Nature Reserve features a complete vertical vegetation spectrum, including moist rainforest, monsoon evergreen broad-leaved forest, montane evergreen-deciduous broad-leaved mixed forest, typical evergreen broad-leaved forest, deciduous monsoon forest, semi-evergreen monsoon forest, montane rainforest, tropical evergreen coniferous forest, and montane evergreen broad-leaved dwarf forest. Scattered areas of tropical bamboo forest and typical evergreen broad-leaved shrubland are also found. To date, 2,017 species of native wild vascular plants have been recorded in the reserve, including 4 species under National Class I Key Protection, 25 species under National Class II Key Protection, and 147 species listed in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). A total of 481 species of vertebrates have been documented, comprising 5 species under National Class I Protection, 49 species under National Class II Protection, 2 species listed in CITES Appendix I, and 39 species in Appendix II. Since 2005, scientists have discovered and published two new genera and 20 new species in domestic and international journals, including one new genus in the family Tettigoniidae, as well as vascular plants and vertebrates such as Leptorumohra × yinggelingensis, Paraboea yinggelingensis, and Zhangixalus yinggelingensis. There are 24 new records for China, such as Cyclobalanopsis multisecta and Attacus yinggelingensis, and 190 new records for Hainan, including Bretschneidera sinensis, Machilus oculodracontis, and Rhododendron simsii. Additionally, 464 species of plants endemic to China, 178 species endemic to Hainan, and 62 species endemic to Hainan have been recorded.