Research Progress on the Decomposition Process of Plant Litter in Wetlands: A Review

Abstract

Wetland is a transitional area where terrestrial ecosystems and aquatic ecosystems interact and influence each other, and it is an important ecosystem on the Earth’s surface. Due to the special characteristics of wetland ecology, the decomposition of wetland plant litter is slightly different from litter in forests, grasslands, and meadows and other traditional areas. The role of litter mineralization in the wetland ecological C cycle and the functional role of plant litter have been neglected. This study analyzes the decomposition mechanism and decomposition model of wetland litter material and focuses on the effects of the decomposition process of wetland litter material on the structure of the soil fauna community, decomposition of soil organic matter, sediment properties, and the dynamic changes in the C cycle of the biological system by combining domestic and international studies from recent years. Finally, we propose that the direction of future research on wetland litter decomposition should be to reveal the mechanism of wetland biodiversity and ecology, as well as the ecological correlation between aboveground and belowground biodiversity, with a view to providing a decision-making basis for wetland phytoremediation and wetland wastewater treatment.

Analyzing the Worldwide Wetland Parks Research: A Spectral-Cluster Algorithm Latent Semantic Index Approach

“…The wetland is a special ecosystem, called a wetland ecosystem [1]. Wetlands play an important role in maintaining the worldwide ecosystem balance, mitigating climate change, enhancing global environmental and ecological sustainability, and promoting human well-being [2,3], economic development [4,5], and cultural heritage [6,7].…”

“…Furthermore, this study aims to determine the knowledge structure, current research focus, and research directions of studies on wetland parks. Therefore, the contributions of this study are as follows: (1) The literature from the past 27 years is utilized to show the characteristics of wetland park-related research. The analyzed publications are sourced from two of the most popular academic databases [44]: Web of Science (WoS) Core Collection and Scopus.…”

“…As with other research, this investigation has a few limitations: (1) The study used bibliometrics via CiteSpace and VOSViewer to study wetland parks, but other related parks were not included. (2) Synonyms of 'wetland park' were not included in this study.…”

Decomposition and Variation in Carbon and Nitrogen of Leaf Litter Mixtures in a Subtropical Mangrove Forest

“…Among the key processes that sustain mangrove ecosystems are the decomposition and nutrient cycling of mangrove leaf litter [3]. Litter is a product of the metabolism during forest growth and development, and it serves as a vital link in material circulation and energy flow, performing irreplaceable ecological functions [4]. Previous studies have indicated that the decomposition rates of mangrove leaf litter can vary significantly depending on the species composition and environmental conditions [5,6].…”