China is one of mega-country in biodiversity in the world. The nature reserves have been developed rapidly since 1990s, but the management system and management can scarcely satisfy the requirements of biodiversity protection and nature reserve development in China. In order to promote biodiversity conservation and nature reserve development in China, we have made systematically studies on conservation theory and methods, planning and management for Chinese nature reserves at national, regional and nature reserve scales by aids of GIS and remote sensing technology. The main important progresses can be summarized as follows.

(1)At the national scale: (i) Analyzed and assessed the spatial distribution of Chinese biodiversity, and identify 17 key regions of biodiversity conservation in China, and put forward the spatial framework planning for the national nature reserves in China. (ii) Analyzed and assessed the current protection status and effect of 15 rare and endangered species, including giant panda, tiger, gold money, the most important endangered species in China. (iii) Assessed the indirect values of biodiversity in China, which become an important content of national report on biodiversity of China. (iv) Systematically investigated the problems faced by the management of Chinese nature reserves, and probed the new management strategy for nature reserves.

(2)At the regional scale: (i) Setup new systematic planning method for the regional nature reserve in combination of the biodiversity protection and ecosystem services, and made extensive investigation on biodiversity characteristics and problems faced by biodiversity conservation in Hainan, and made new development plan for the nature reserve network of Hainan, and the plan has been approved by Hainan Provincial Government and implemented. (ii) By aids of the GIS and remote sensing technology, we mapped the ecosystems and wildlife (including 12 species as giant panda. gold monkey and takin) habitat distribution in Minshan region, one of the key areas for biodiversity conservation in the world. The habitat quality and fragmentation were analyzed and assessed. A new management scheme was developed for Minshan region based on the ecosystem service evaluation for each landscape patches for the purposes of coordination of wildlife conservation, local economic development and resource sustainable management. The landscape approach developed and applied in Minshan region is a new measure for region biodiversity conservation and land use management.

(3)At the nature reserve scale: With Wolong Nature Reserve as an example, we mainly studied the giant panda habitat selection, habitat structure, habitat dynamic, habitat restoration, and the impact mechanism of human activities on the habitat. We developed a new habitat assessment method for the wildlife. We also studied the relation of human population and wildlife habitat changes, and the impacts of current management theories and measures for nature reserves.
There are series of important progresses relating to the research on biodiversity conservation and nature reserves. Since 1999, there are more than 30 papers have been published, among them, 2 papers published on the Science. The policy suggestions on Chinese nature reserve management have been adopted by the “Nature Reserve Act (draft)”. The relevant nature reserve system planning in China has been adopted and applied by State Environmental Protection Administration and State Forestry Administration.