The input of senescent terrestrial leaf litter into soil and aquatic ecosystems is one of the most massive cyclic subsidies on Earth, particularly within forested ecosystems. For freshwater systems embedded within forests, litter inputs provide a vital source of energy and nutrients that allows greater production than in situ resources can provide. In return, freshwater food webs can provide an enormous amount of material to the terrestrial landscape through biotic respiration, photosynthesis, and organism emergence. Most research concerning this important aquatic‐terrestrial link has focused on lotic ecosystems (i.e., streams and rivers); far less attention has been given to its role in lentic systems (i.e., wetlands and lakes). A focus on small forested wetlands is particularly important, as these systems account for a disproportionate amount of global carbon flux relative to their spatial coverage, and the decomposition of leaf litter is a major contributor. Here, we review six themes: (1) the evidence for the role of leaf litter inputs as an ecologically important subsidy in forested wetlands; (2) the bottom‐up effects of quantitative and qualitative variation in litter inputs; (3) how diversity in litter mixtures can alter ecological functioning; (4) evidence for top‐down consequences of litter inputs through toxic effects on predators and parasites, and the alteration of predator–prey interactions; (5) the relevance of our review to other research fields by considering the role of litter inputs relative to other types of subsidies and environmental gradients (e.g., temperature, canopy cover, and hydrology); and (6) the interaction of litter subsidies with anthropogenic disturbances. We conclude by highlighting several high‐priority research questions and providing suggestions for future research on the role of litter subsidies in freshwater ecosystems.

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回顾植物凋落物输入对森林湿地生态系统的作用：翻阅文献

将衰老的陆地凋落物输入土壤和水生生态系统是地球上最大的周期性补贴之一，尤其是在森林生态系统内。对于埋在森林中的淡水系统，垃圾输入提供了重要的能量和养分来源，其产量超过了原地资源所能提供的水平。作为回报，淡水食物网可以通过生物呼吸，光合作用和有机体的出现为陆地景观提供大量的物质。关于这一重要的水-陆联系的大多数研究都集中在抽水生态系统（即溪流和河流）上。人们对它在透镜系统（即湿地和湖泊）中的作用的关注很少。重点放在森林茂密的小型湿地上尤为重要，因为这些系统相对于其空间覆盖范围而言占全球碳通量的比例不成比例，并且凋落物的分解是主要的贡献者。在这里，我们回顾了六个主题：（1）落叶废弃物作为森林湿地的重要生态补贴作用的证据；（2）垫料投入量在数量和质量上的自下而上的影响；（3）凋落物混合物的多样性如何改变生态功能；（4）证据表明，垃圾投入物通过对食肉动物和寄生虫的毒性作用而导致自上而下的后果，以及食肉动物与猎物之间相互作用的改变；（5）通过考虑垫料投入相对于其他类型的补贴和环境梯度（例如温度，树冠覆盖和水文学）的作用，我们的评论与其他研究领域的相关性；（6）垫料补贴与人为干扰的相互作用。最后，我们重点介绍了几个高度优先的研究问题，并为今后有关垃圾补贴在淡水生态系统中的作用的研究提供了建议。