Background and aims <p>Knowledge about the variation patterns of plant traits along environmental gradients is valuable for the mechanistic understanding of community assembly and ecosystem functions under environmental changes. In wetlands, aboveground plant traits are commonly studied, however, little is known about the responses of belowground plant traits and their coordination with aboveground traits to environmental changes.</p> Methods <p>Samples of four dominant species and soil were collected from wetland sites of varying degradation along the Yellow River. Key leaf and root traits were measured to determine variations of community functional composition (i.e., community-weighted trait means and functional diversity) and their environmental drivers.</p> Results <p>Intensified degradation of riparian wetlands shifted community-level leaf and root traits towards more conservative values, characterized by denser leaves and roots (i.e., greater leaf dry matter content and root tissue density) and lower nutrient contents. However, the functional diversity of leaf and root traits did not show a consistent increase or decrease with the degradation of riparian wetlands. Moreover, degradation-induced changes in soil nutrients were the main factors driving leaves and roots within the plant community to become denser and lower in nutrient content toward severely degraded habitats.</p> Conclusion <p>These results demonstrate that leaf and root traits are coordinated in adapting to changes in wetland habitats, and highlight that filtering mechanisms for plant adaptive traits within the community are trait-specific. This is insightful for understanding the adaptation of wetland plants to environmental change, and could contribute to plant functional restoration of riparian wetlands in disturbed landscapes.</p>