Abstract: Lake and marsh wetlands can authentically record the information of climate and environmental changes. The area and number changes of lake and marsh wetlands can provide evidence of spatial and temporal characteristics of water resource changes in China. The distribution and the dynamics of lake and marsh wetlands in China have different characteristics because of the differences in their natural environments. Understanding the changes in these lake and marsh wetlands in different years can help to make effective value assessment, management and protection. In this study, according to the regional differences in natural environments of the country, lake and marsh wetlands are divided into six regions: northeastern mountain and plain region, eastern plain region, Inner Mongolia-Xinjiang plateau region, Qinghai-Tibet Plateau region, YunnanGuizhou Plateau region, and the southern coastal region. Based on the historical data from “Records of Lakes in China” and “Records of Marshes in China”, as well as the current status data of lake and marsh wetlands in 2008 obtained by remote sensing technology, the regional variations and type changes in lake and marsh wetlands in recent 20 years were studied. The result shows that the distributions of national lake and marsh wetlands in different regions are unbalanced, and basically all regions have disappearing or degrading lake and marsh wetlands. However, a small part of lake and marsh wetlands expand, which are mainly distributed in the Tibetan Plateau region. Most of the lake and marsh wetlands are disappearing or degrading, and this trend, to some extent, reflects their weakening ecosystem services function, and declining economic value.

Key words: soil nutrient, sand-fixation shrub plantation, soil quality assessment, soil microorganism