Abstract: Wetlands in the arid and semi-arid regions in northwest China are of significance, and play an important role in global climate regulation, water holding, carbon cycle and biodiversity conservation. Thus, summarizing and analyzing the current status and progress of wetland researches is important for ecological conservation and environmental management. In this article, the authors summarized the progress of wetland researches in arid and semi-arid regions in 5 aspects, including formation, evolution, types and distribution of wetlands, plant community of wetlands, ecological effect of landscape pattern change and driving force of wetlands, carbon and nitrogen cycles of wetlands, and degradation and recovery of wetlands, then pointed out the lacks of present researches on wetlands. In the basis the above-mentioned, the authors suggested that strengthening the researches on dynamic change of plant community and landscape pattern, the response mechanism of dynamic process on the driving force, carbon and nitrogen cycles, and theory and technology system of degradation and restoration for wetlands.

Key words: wetland, plant community, research progress, arid and semi-arid regions, northwest China