Abstract: Wetland plant distributing pattern is one of the main studying contents in wetland ecology. The change of wetland plant distributing pattern is the result of the interaction of wetland plant biological characteristics and external environment changes. Dongting Lake wetland, as one of the typical river-connected wetland in the middle and lower basin of Yangtze River owns many important ecological functions. The hydrological conditions of Dongting Lake have been changed greatly after the operation of the Three Gorge Project, and which in turn significantly influences the succession of wetland plant distributing pattern. Based on the literature review, this paper systematically summarizes the succession of wetland plant distributing pattern in the Dongting Lake after the operation of the Three Gorges Project. We also summarize the mechanism that determining plant distributing patterns on the basis of water regimes changes and plant biological characteristics. Results confirmed that the area of different vegetation types changed greatly, which showed that the area of lake – grass decreased while the areas of Phragmites communis (Miscanthus sacchariflorus) and poplar community increased significantly after the operation of the Three Gorge Project. The changes of wetland plant distributing pattern are affected by several of hydrological regime such as water level, flooding time and sedimentation. Also, wetland plants can adapt to the changed external environments by multiple approaches such as adjustments of reproductive strategies, ecological and physiological characteristics, and intra- and inter-species relationships, and then which play important roles in determining the stability of vegetation community. Finally, we taking poplar planting and diversity changes of winter migratory birds as cases to clarify the effects of wetland plant distributing change in Dongting Lake. The aim of our study was to provide a theoretical basis for the protection of Dongting Lake wetlands and the restoration of degraded wetlands.