Mapping forest resilience hotspots in South America

Led by Xiongjie Deng, a DPhil student in our Ecosystems and Biodiversity Programme, researchers from the Environmental Change Institute at the University of Oxford and collaborators from South America, have produced one of the most detailed assessments yet of forest resilience across southern South America.

Published in the International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, the study combines trait measurements from over 8,000 Chilean trees with drone and satellite imagery to quantify how functional diversity (the variety of ecological roles species play) and functional redundancy (the number of species that can perform similar roles) vary along a 2,300-kilometre latitudinal gradient.

Schematic drawn from Deng et al. (2025) showing the complexity of the process followed to first model and then map plant functional trait composition, diversity, and redundancy across Chilean forests.

By mapping both traits and their overlap, the team pinpointed a “resilience hotspot” in the Valdivian rainforests (35°S–42°S), where high diversity and redundancy suggest a strong capacity to absorb environmental change. In contrast, forests farther north or south exhibit either low redundancy or limited diversity, indicating greater vulnerability.

Xiongjie and his co-authors emphasise that these findings can guide targeted efforts to safeguard South America’s temperate forests.

Read more on the ECI's news page.

Read the full article published in the International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation.