Research advances in ecophysiology of vegetation restoration process in Karst areas.

Karst area is a special terrain mainly consisting of limestone in south China. Water deficit with thin and soil is its typical characteristics. The problem of desertification is attracting more attentions in Karst area. Soil severely erodes, bedrock appears massively, and productivity decreases in limestone districts, which are all caused by human's unreasonable social economic activity. It is becoming urgent to carry out ecological restoration in limestone desertification region. As a degraded limestone ecosystem, some ecophysiological characteristics of restoration process are studied by the plant-ecophysiology-method in limestone region. It's important significance to quest the succession mechanism of population adapting growing in Karst area. The advances in habitat fitness, photosynthesis-physiology, water-physiology, nutrient-physiology, mycorrhizal physiology, genetic physiology of limestone plants were summarized. Furthermore, some prospects on calcium fitness, carbon circle and genetic mechanism under drought in limestone area were discussed.