简介：Wetlands,oneofthemostproductivesystemsinthebiosphereareauniqueecosystem.Theyoccurinlandscapesthatfavorthepondingorslowrunoffofsurfacewater,dischargeofgroundwater,orboth.Wetlandsarenotonlyimportantformaintainingplantandanimaldiversity,butalsoforbalancingglobalcarbonbudgetviasequestratingorreleasingCO2from/intoatmospheredependingontheirmanagement.Therefore,itisimperativetounderstandhowwetlandsformandfunction,thenwecanbettermanage,utilize,andprotecttheseuniqueecosystems.Hydriesoils,hydrophyticvegetation,andwetlandhydrologyarethethreemainparametersofwetlands.Theseparametersareinterrelatedwitheachotherwhichjointlyinfluencethedevelopmentandfunctionsofwetlandecosystems.Theobjectiveofthispaperwastoreportthecurrentunderstandingofwetlandsandprovidefutureresearchdirections.Thepaperwillfirstfocusonaspectsofhydrologyresearchinwetlands,andthenshifttosoilhydrosequenceandwetlandvegetationtobetterunderstandprocesses,structure,andfunctionofwetlands,andconcludewithsomepossiblefutureresearchdirections.