Current national nature reserves are insufficient to safeguard the long-term survival of birds and mammals in China

Enhancing the connectivity of protected areas is a global consensus for conserving biodiversity. Yet, it is unclear whether habitats are sufficiently connected within protected areas to efficiently protect wildlife populations for long-term survival. Here we show that, in general, China’s national nature reserves can effectively protect about one-half of the bird and mammal populations within protected areas for long-term survival. However, they can only protect 25% of birds and 13% of terrestrial mammals with high motility. Areas of low conservation effectiveness are highly overlapped with protected areas of small size and high intensity of human activity. Artificial landscapes (arable land and built-up land), which account for less than 2% area of the protected areas, disproportionately cause nearly 40% of the connectivity loss. The results suggest that maintaining high levels of functional connectivity within protected areas is as important as maintaining high connectivity in the national or global protected area networks. Our findings have important implications for improving the management of protected areas in China and beyond.