Abstract: The unprecedented loss of species has motivated people to conduct considerable researches to describe the relationships between species diversity and ecosystem functioning and to reveal the mechanisms underlying. Based on the recent advances, some key issues on the relationships between species diversity and ecosystem functioning (such as productivity, stability, and invasion-resistance) in several representative experimental studies, including microcosm, Ecotron, Cedar Creek grassland experiment, and European BIODEPTH, as well as the applications of removal experiment in the studies of species diversity and ecosystem functioning, were summarized, and, based on the current understanding of the relationships between species diversity and ecosystem functioning, future challenges and trends were prospected, including the extension of experimental results from small temporal and spatial scales to larger temporal and spatial scales, the comprehensive consideration on the interactions of biotic and abiotic factors on species diversity and ecosystem functioning, and the effects of trophic levels and species coexistence mechanisms on the relationships between species diversity and ecosystem functioning.

Key words: Damage of M.micrantha, Community types, Cluster analysis, Correlation analysis, Neilingding Island, Guangdong Province