Presently, ecotourism is planned or developed for many nature reserves in China, but the studies of these impacts on wildlife are few. A framework for monitoring and managing the effects of ecotourism on wildlife in Nature Reserves in China should be proposed, based on reviewing the literature from scientists in Europe, U.S., and Australia. Ecotourism activities in nature reserves include wildlife viewing, hiking, all-terrain vehicles, snowmobiles, camping, motor-boating, floating, interpretation, or visiting local community. Pattern, intensity, scope, temporal and spatial patterns of ecotourism activities are factors influencing the impacts on wildlife. Ecotourism activities can have a direct impact on wildlife, as measured by: behavioral and physiological changes, low reproduction, population abundance and distribution changes, community changes in species composition and interrelationships. Indirect impacts include: habitat destruction, exotic species dispersal, and environmental pollution. There are plenty studies about ecotourism impacts on birds, mainly focus on the flight responses, feeding, energy expenditure, and reproduction; the impacts on mammals mainly focus on behavior, physiological index, population size. Due to the lack of research on ecotourism impacts, it is necessary for China to collect large basic data, and discuss some important questions about theory and application, and establish monitoring systems in reserves to measure wildlife behavior, physiology, population dynamics, and distribution; habitats, environmental quality; temporal and spatial characteristics, as well as the attitudes, and behavior of visitors. Monitoring methods include control area comparison for different levels of tourism intensity before and after development, to determine its long-term effect. Ecological research and monitoring should be applied to wildlife, habitat, and visitor management strategies used by nature reserves. The natural and social sciences should be merged to study the interaction of wildlife and visitors.