Abstract: Global climate change has been widely concerned all over the world for many years. There are lots of studies on the effects of climate change factors including global warming, drought, increasing CO₂ concentration and nitrogen deposition on forest ecosystems. Tree litters play an important role in matter cycles in forest ecosystems, and their response to climate change has been studied extensively. However, the results and mechanisms of climate change effects on litter are still much controversial, due to the differences in experimental methods including tree species, treatment time, etc. In addition, comprehensive reports are lacking in the advance of the effects of climate change on tree litter decomposition. Previous studies are scattered, and limited to a narrow scope. In this paper, we comprehensively review the effects of climate change including global warming, drought, increasing CO₂ and O₃ concentrations and nitrogen deposition on litter quality and decomposition of trees. Some prospects of the effects of climate change on tree litters are also reviewed. This review may provide some scientific references for the studies of forest litters and the development of some ecological theories, particularly the matter and nutrient cycles in forest ecosystems under global climate change.

Key words: naturally restored grassland, sediment, erosion dyna-mics, loess hilly and gully region., runoff, ephemeral gully erosion