ABSTRACT
As the nation with the third largest land area in the world, China contains many wetlands. The total wetland area of China is more than 38 million ha, including about 36 million ha natural wetlands and 2 million ha of constructed wetlands (e.g., rice elds and reservoirs) (Lei and Zhang 2005). Wetlands cover about 3.8% of China’s land area, yet they provide 54.9% of ecosystem services produced by the country’s ecological systems (Chen and Zhang 2000). All of the 26 natural and 9 human-made wetland types dened in the Ramsar international wetland classication can be found in China (An et al. 2007; Lei and Zhang 2005). Of the total natural wetland area, 38.1% (13.8 million ha) are marshes and swamps, 23.2% (8.4 million ha) are lakes, 22.7% (8.2 million ha) are rivers, and 16.3% (5.9 million ha) are marine and coastal wetlands (SFA 2005).
