Wetlands in China: Evolution, Carbon Sequestrations and Services, Threats, and Preservation/Restoration

Abstract

China has a wetland area of 53.42 million hectares, the fourth largest in the world; it includes all types of wetlands defined by the Ramsar Convention and has a carbon sink capacity of more than 1.71 million metric tons per year. Inland wetlands in China are mainly distributed in 10 major catchments, among which the Yellow River, the Yangtze River, the rivers in the northwest, and the rivers in the northeast each have more than 8 million hectares of wetlands. There are 4220 species of plants and 4015 species of animals in China’s wetland ecosystem. The wetland resources that have been developed and utilized include edible products, reeds for paper making, peat for fertilizer, fuel for power generation, and chemical, pharmaceutical, ceramic, and building materials. However, wetland areas in China have shrunk by about 54% since 1980. In recent years, China’s central government has set great store by Chinese wetlands, and although 49.03% of wetland area is now officially protected, many issues have confounded the implementation of that protection. It is imperative that knowledge gained from scientific research be used to formulate a sound wetland protection and management plan that takes into consideration social, economic, and ecological issues in a way that facilitates the sustainable use of wetland resources and informs decision-makers of the paths that must be followed to achieve that goal.

The impacts of water level fluctuations from paddy fields and aquaculture ponds on wetland habitats for wintering waterbirds: Implications for wetland management

“…Within the last decade, a series of wetland protection and restoration policies have been imposed on floodplain lakes along the Yangtze River. (Zhao et al, 2019;Xie et al, 2022;Ye et al, 2022). And these policies were carried out in Caizi Lake, including a ban on pen-culture and fishing (Wang, 2020).…”

“…Over the past half-century, wide scale and high density of aquaculture and agriculture resulted in lake degeneration, and creating paddy fields and aquaculture ponds. However, within the last decade, a series of wetland protection and restoration policies have been imposed on floodplain lakes along the Yangtze River, for example, recovering lakes by stopping land reclamation, and a ban on pen-culture and fishing (Zhao et al, 2019;Xie et al, 2022;Ye et al, 2022). Furthermore, appropriate action is needed to explore the utilization of the historic paddy fields and aquaculture ponds for waterbird conservation and wetland management.…”

Community responses of arbuscular mycorrhiza fungi to hydrological gradients in a riparian Phragmites australis wetland

“…Wetlands are well known as the kidney of the earth with abundant biological resources and ecological functions such as purifying the water source, mitigating floods and droughts, and regulating regional microclimate (Chakraborty et al., 2023; Ye et al., 2022). In recent years, increasing numbers of reports have confirmed that AM fungi also exist widely in wetland habitats and can colonize the roots of various hygrophytes to form AM symbiotic structure (Xu et al., 2016; Yan et al., 2008).…”

Spatial and temporal variation of net primary productivity of herbaceous marshes and its climatic drivers in China

“…The rate of carbon sequestration by herbaceous marsh vegetation is faster than that of other types of marsh vegetation ( Zhou et al., 2009 ). Herbaceous marshes play a critical role in regulating regional carbon cycle ( Ye et al., 2022 ). The NPP of herbaceous marsh is a significant indicator of herbaceous marsh ecosystem functions and capacity for carbon sequestration ( Woltz et al., 2023 ).…”