Abstract: Under the influences of natural conditions and human activities, the downstream rivers of the Three Gorges Reservior have been experiencing changes in flow and sediment conditions and river evolution, which in the meantime pose new demands for flood risk management, navigation, electricity generation, water supply and ecology. It is urgent to investigate the mechanisms underlying the water and sediment transport and river evolution in the downstream of the Three Gorges Reservior, and develop novel ecological regulation technologies, by which to promote the fusions of river regulation and ecology protection. In this paper we make a review on previous studies of water and sediment transport, river evolution, and ecological regulation in the downstream of Three Gorges Reservior. In view of the deficiencies of current studies, we put forward the direction and contents of future research: the spatio-temporal variation trend of water and sediment in the downstream channel of the Three Gorges Reservior, the interaction between the reconstruction of different river types and water-sediment transport, the habitat restoration technology for damaged river bank, the ecological reconstruction technology for embankment, and the eco-friendly methods and technologies for river regulation.

Key words: ecology of river, water and sediment conditions, river evolution, river-lake relation, Three Gorges Reservior, middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River