Abstract: Wetland landscape ecological classification, as a basis for the studies of wetland landscape ecology, directly affects the precision and effectiveness of wetland-related research. Based on the history, current status, and latest progress in the studies on the theories, indicators, and methods of wetland landscape classification, some scientific wetland classification systems, e.g., NWI, Ramsar, and HGM, were introduced and discussed in this paper. It was suggested that a comprehensive classification method based on HGM and on the integral consideration of wetlands spatial structure, ecological function, ecological process, topography, soil, vegetation, hydrology, and human disturbance intensity should be the major future direction in this research field. Furthermore, the integration of 3S technologies, quantitative mathematics, landscape modeling, knowledge engineering, and artificial intelligence to enhance the automatization and precision of wetland landscape ecological classification would be the key issues and difficult topics in the studies of wetland landscape ecological classification.

Key words: landscape ecology, wetland classification, NWI, Ramsar Convention, hydrogeomorphic method (HGM), dendrochronology, dendroclimatology, wood anatomy, treeline dynamics.