CForBio: a network monitoring Chinese forest biodiversity

China harbors a rich variety of forest types and forest-associated biodiversity, linked to both historical and contemporary environmental factors. However, being a country with a large population and rapid economic development, its diverse forest is facing unprecedent challenges. The Chinese Forest Biodiversity Network (CForBio) was initiated 12 years ago to study the maintenance of biodiversity in China's forest ecosystems. In this review, we first summarize research progress in CForBio, and then give suggestions for future research. In the past 12 years, the research based on CForBio mainly focused on local ecological factors, such as environment filtering, biotic interactions and small-scale dispersal limitation. We suggest that future studies in CForBio should (1) continue research on trees, but expand more on insects, birds, mammals, microbes and other organism groups; (2) investigate the effects of widespread defaunation on forest biodiversity, structure and functioning; (3) evaluate the diverse effects of climate change on forest composition, structure and functioning; (4) include new technologies, such as remote sensing, to better monitor and study forest biodiversity change and maintenance.