Abstract:
Since the 21st century, China has implemented numerous wetland ecological restoration projects in estuarine areas, significantly increasing the area of estuarine wetlands and restoring native plant species. However, the changes in the successional processes of estuarine wetland ecosystems following the implementation of these projects remain unclear, particularly regarding the succession of aboveground and belowground biotic communities and their impact on ecosystem functions. Furthermore, there is a lack of long-term evaluations of the effectiveness of these ecological restoration projects. This paper reviews the succession of aboveground and belowground biotic functional traits, the coupled changes in multi-trophic biotic communities, and their effects on ecosystem function evolution.The study proposes that future research should focus on the long-term responses of estuarine wetland biotic communities to ecological restoration projects, emphasizing coupling dynamics across the entire chain of wetland plant–benthic animal–microorganism including their diversity and community structure. It calls for in-depth exploration of the mechanisms by which multi-trophic level community succession and cascade effects drive the evolution of ecosystem multifunctionality. By taking estuarine wetland biotic communities as a starting point, the research aims to systematically evaluate the long-term impacts and underlying mechanisms of ecological restoration projects on estuarine wetland ecosystems.