Abstract：Through a comparison of the plant species diversity of different railroad slopes after vegetation restoration(natural or artificial) and the undisturbed slopes,we discovered that the restoration outcome varied with restoration periods,soil matrixes and slope locations.Long restoration periods,or places with loose soil or better aboriginal vegetation tend to produce higher vegetation richness.This demonstrated that the physical and chemical property of the study area's soil as well as the succession pattern of the native community should be taken into consideration when to launch an artificial restoration.Priority should be taken to the indigenous species when choosing the pioneer species,but to introduce foreign species could be useful if the richness of the indigenous species is less in the areas.
2006, Vol. 4 
