For the universal grassland degradation and associated human utilization in the world, authors expound ecosystem restoration, climate climax in ecological succession, environment change and grassland state transition, grazing and disturbance climax, restoration by human intervention, thereby put forward the restoration path and state model of the degraded grassland ecosystem. This paper emphasizes that the restoration of degraded grassland should be carried out from the perspective of ecosystem, rather than only vegetation or soil processes, because there will be multiple alternative restoration states for grasslands in the context of environmental change or human disturbance. Three basic restoration modes of degraded grassland and possible restoration states are described as the followings: (1) Gradual restoration according to natural succession: based on the theory of ecological succession, grasslands from light to moderate degradation under favorable environments might reach the climax or near climax state for a long time by the systematical self-organization. (2) Intervention restoration by human activity: for those severely or extremely degraded grasslands, it needs to break through a series of abiotic (soil structure, nutrients, etc.) and biotic (plant colonization, species interaction, etc.) restrictions, and restore to a certain equilibrium or stable state, even climax state by using engineering, physical, chemical or biological-ecological methods or practices. It will take a long-time. (3) Restoration by grazing disturbance: grassland ecosystem structure (species composition and diversity), productivity and nutrient processes could be regulated through light to moderate livestock grazing, thereby maintaining and promoting grassland ecosystem multifunctionality and stability. This restoration method can be selected for medium-mild degraded grasslands. In conclusion, the holistic goal of grassland restoration is to achieve its long-term stable ecosystem multifunctionality.

The compiling protocols of Vegegraphy of China published earlier provided standards and guidelines for the compilation of Vegegraphy of China. In this study, we interpreted, revised and supplemented the protocols in view of some specific issues and deficiencies encountered during the subsequent compilation processes. We reaffirmed the term “Vegetation type” as a way to identify Volumes and Issues of the Vegegraphy of China. We emphasized the description of quantitative characteristics of the medium- and/or lower-level vegetation classification units, and we proposed to review and accept the community types recorded in literatures. In addition, we further elucidated the importance of the quantitative classification method as a way to support the vegetation classification scheme. These supplements and revisions, together with the previous protocols, constitute the basis and standard for compiling the Vegegraphy of China.

On the basis of a brief discussion of the definitions of alien plants, we summarized the investigation and research status of China’s naturalized alien plants, and made corrections of the data regarding naturalized alien plants on two papers in 2019 and 2021.