As threats to biodiversity proliferate, establishment and expansion of protected areas have increasingly been advocated in recent decades. In establishing a network of protected areas, recurrent assessments of the biodiversity conservation actually afforded by these areas is required. Gap analysis has been useful to evaluate the sufficiency and performance of protected areas. We surveyed Reeves’s Pheasant Syrmaticus reevesii populations in 2018–2019 across its distribution range in central China to quantify the distribution of habitat suitable for this species. Our goal was to ascertain the current distribution of Reeves’s Pheasant and then identify the gaps in protecting Reeves’s Pheasant of the existing national nature reserve (NNR) network to provide suggestions for improving the conservation of this important species. The existing NNR network encompassed only 17.0% of the habitat suitable for Reeves’s Pheasant. Based on the current distributions of both suitable habitat and NNRs for Reeves’s Pheasant, we suggest most currently unprotected areas comprised moderately suitable habitat for species and should be prioritized in the future. A multiple species approach using Reeves’s Pheasant as a flagship species should be considered to understand the extent of mismatch between the distributions of protected areas and suitable habitat to improve the management effectiveness of NNRs. This case study provides an example of how the development of a conservation reserve network may be based on species distribution and habitat assessments and is useful to conservation efforts in other regions and for other species.

随着对生物多样性的威胁激增，近几十年来越来越多地提倡建立和扩大保护区。在建立保护区网络时，需要对这些地区实际提供的生物多样性保护进行反复评估。差距分析有助于评估保护区的充分性和绩效。我们调查了里夫斯的雉鸡Syrmaticus reevesii2018-2019 年在华中分布范围内的种群数量，以量化适合该物种的栖息地分布。我们的目标是确定里夫斯雉鸡的当前分布，然后找出现有国家自然保护区 (NNR) 网络在保护里夫斯雉鸡方面的差距，为改善这一重要物种的保护提供建议。现有的 NNR 网络仅包含 17.0% 的适合 Reeves's Pheasant 的栖息地。根据目前 Reeves 雉鸡适宜栖息地和 NNR 的分布，我们建议目前大多数未受保护的区域包括适度适宜物种的栖息地，并应在未来优先考虑。应考虑使用里夫斯雉鸡作为旗舰物种的多物种方法，以了解保护区分布与合适栖息地之间的不匹配程度，以提高 NNR 的管理效率。本案例研究提供了一个示例，说明保护保护区网络的发展如何基于物种分布和栖息地评估，并有助于其他地区和其他物种的保护工作。