Hydrological progress is the basic wetland ecological progress. Variation of water level can have significant effects on growth, reproduction and community succession of plants in the wetlands. The effects might increase with global warming and human activities. In this paper, we summarized the relevant study work, including the effects of water depth gradients on plants in the wetlands from several aspects (morphology, physiological, biochemical characteristics, group reproduction and community biomass) by reviewing the recent published paper. Furthermore, some suggestive advices were also proposed on three aspects (direction, scale and mechanism) to this research direction.