Net primary productivity（NPP） estimation is an important study field of global change and terrestrial ecosystems（GCTE）.Many models used to estimate GPP and NPP have been established

such as CASA、Bio-BGC、BEPS、GLO-PEM

TURC

PSN and so on.Among them

the model based on light use efficiency（LUE） is very popular in estimating GPP and NPP at large scale

because it needs low computation cost

few bio-parameters and easy to be incorporated with remote sensing data.Therefore

estimating LUE accurately is valuable for both the ecological and global change studies.There have been several attempts to model seasonal variation of LUE

mainly as a function of air temperature

water vapour pressure deficit and soil water deficit.However

LUE’s variation with environmental conditions is very complex

it is interrupted by many factors such as air temperature

soil moisture

plant functional type

disease

nutrition condition

light intensity

light component

and so on.The existing models are either too simple to describe or lack reliability.LUE can be estimated directly by remote sensing

and it will be more desirable.A number of studies have revealed that photochemical reflectance index（PRI）

derived from narrow band reflectance at 531 and 570 nm

is related well with LUE in some conditions

which provides possibility in estimating LUE by PRI.Some studies have confirmed this relationship at leaf scale

canopy scale and landscape scale.Meanwhile

many studies have also found that the relationship between PRI and LUE is not robust enough

which is interrupted seriously by many disturbances

such as soil background

species composition

canopy structure

sun zenith

view zenith

atmosphere

and so on.Results from simulation and experiment both revealed that the relationship between PRI and LUE keeps well even under very strict condition

such as high LAI（leaf area index）

single specie and so on.Therefore

it still needs more research for wide application of PRI.This paper reviews the definition of PRI

physiological mechanism leading to the relationship between PRI and LUE

and introduced some case studies to establish the relationship between PRI and LUE through remote sensing.Then some disturbances at leaf scale

canopy scale and landscape scale were analyzed.In the end

a summary about achievements

existing problems and prospective studies are concluded.Although there are still many problems in estimation of LUE through PRI

a few studies have tried to conquer these problems and made some progress.They found that the relationship between PRI and LUE would be more robust by incorporating with other vegetation indices.