Current rate of biodiversity loss has been far greater than the natural rates from fossil record. The most common conservation strategy is the establishment of protected areas network. As a special form of biodiversity conservation networks, the transboundary protected areas (TBPAs) network is designed to protect key ecosystems and high biodiversity areas among different countries or regions. The establishment of TBPAs network had been listed as one of the major goals of the Convention on Biological Diversity, which concerned both ecological/environmental issues and social/political issues. The TBPAs network may span international, interprovincial, or regional boundaries, which is normally composed of transboundary nodes and corridors. However, the establishment mode of TBPAs network in different scales (e.g., the global scale, the continental scale, and among different countries or regions scale) is still poorly reviewed. And studies on TBPAs network in China is still in its initial stage.
In this paper, wereview related studies on TBPAs network in different scales, and methodological studies on the TBPAs network establishment based on the "node - corridor" mode. In general, the node of one TBPAs network should be areas with high conservation value, high species richness, more endangered species, or key biodiversity resources. And the development of transboundary corridor can connect different transboundary nodes into a TBPAs network, which can facilitate the flow of gene, energy, and substance. We also discuss the TBPAs network status across China, such as the TBPAs among China, Russia, and Mongolia in the northeast, the TBPAs among China, Russia, Kazakhstan, and Mongolia in the northwest, and the TBPAs among China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam in the southwest. Finally, we recommend potential studies on TBPAs network in China: 1) enhancing the TBPAs network studies in larger scales; 2) proposing TBPAs network method and management model suitable to China; 3) evaluating the effectiveness of TBPAs network; 4) studying new issues related to the TBPAs network; and 5) developing integrated policy and institution of the TBPAs.