Karst rocky desertification is a unique kind of land desertification which happens in humid climate area in China. There has not been enough knowledge about the karst ecosystem stability and the forming mechanisms of karst rocky desertification, and there has been the lack of perfect prevention and cure techniques. Therefore, the total extending trend of rocky desertification has not been controlled yet effectively. This paper discusses the existing problems of present basic researches on the processes of karst rocky desertification and adaptive recovery of karst ecosystems, including the temporalspatial changes and driving mechanisms of karst rocky desertification, the soil erosion processes and its driving forces as well as risk evaluation in karst mountainous regions, the relationship of biogeochemical processes in karst rocky desertification with degradation processes of karst ecosystems, adaptive recovery of the degraded karst ecosystems, the optimization of service function and comprehensive adjusting and controlling measures of karst ecosystem, etc. It is emphasized that karst rocky desertification is not induced only by natural processes that happen in the geographical zones, and is the comprehensive ecological problems concerning the naturally, socially and economically driving factors. Multidisciplinary integration and comprehensive research methods based on karst science should be adopted in the researches on karst rocky desertification. The development trends on the above research fields have also been predicted also in the last decades.