Soil erosion often results in the degradation of ecosystem services and functions throughout the world. Splash erosion is the initial stage of water erosion and directly contributes to the detachment of soil particles on sloping land. As splash erosion is widespread under the intense rainfall of the humid tropics, the gradual transition from large-scale tropical rainforests to rubber monoculture plantations and then to rubber agroforestry systems in Xishuangbanna and similar areas should be underpinned by a better understanding of splash erosion under natural rainfall conditions.