Portal:Wetlands

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Wetlands Portal

Introduction

A wetland is a land area that is saturated with water, either permanently or seasonally, such that it takes on the characteristics of a distinct ecosystem. The primary factor that distinguishes wetlands from other land forms or water bodies is the characteristic vegetation of aquatic plants, adapted to the unique hydric soil. Wetlands play a number of roles in the environment, principally water purification, flood control, carbon sink and shoreline stability. Wetlands are also considered the most biologically diverse of all ecosystems, serving as home to a wide range of plant and animal life. Wetlands occur naturally on every continent except Antarctica, the largest including the Amazon River basin, the West Siberian Plain, and the Pantanal in South America. The water found in wetlands can be freshwater, brackish, or saltwater. The main wetland types include swamps, marshes, bogs, and fens; and sub-types include mangrove, carr, pocosin, and varzea.

The UN Millennium Ecosystem Assessment determined that environmental degradation is more prominent within wetland systems than any other ecosystem on Earth. International conservation efforts are being used in conjunction with the development of rapid assessment tools to inform people about wetland issues.

Constructed wetlands can be used to treat municipal and industrial wastewater as well as stormwater runoff and they also play a role in water-sensitive urban design.

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A marsh along the edge of a small river

A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species. Marshes can often be found at the edges of lakes and streams, where they form a transition between the aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. They are often dominated by grasses, rushes or reeds. If woody plants are present they tend to be low-growing shrubs. This form of vegetation is what differentiates marshes from other types of wetland such as swamps, which are dominated by trees, and mires, which are wetlands that have accumulated deposits of acidic peat.

Marshes provide habitat for many types of plants, animals, and insects that have adapted to living in flooded conditions. The plants must be able to survive in wet mud with low oxygen levels. Many of these plants therefore have aerenchyma, channels within the stem that allow air to move from the leaves into the rooting zone. Marsh plants also tend to have rhizomes for underground storage and reproduction. Familiar examples include cattails, sedges, papyrus and sawgrass. Aquatic animals, from fish to salamanders, are generally able to live with a low amount of oxygen in the water. Some can obtain oxygen from the air instead, while others can live indefinitely in conditions of low oxygen. Marshes provide habitats for many kinds of invertebrates, fish, amphibians, waterfowl and aquatic mammals. Marshes have extremely high levels of biological production, some of the highest in the world, and therefore are important in supporting fisheries. Marshes also improve water quality by acting as a sink to filter pollutants and sediment from the water that flows through them. Marshes (and other wetlands) are able to absorb water during periods of heavy rainfall and slowly release it into waterways and therefore reduce the magnitude of floodin The pH in marshes tends to be neutral to alkaline, as opposed to bogs, where peat accumulates under more acid conditions. (Full article...)

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The following are images from various wetland-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1A marsh in Jyväskylä, Finland (from Marsh)
Image 2Kakerdaja Fen, Estonia (from Fen)
Image 3Bog-wood and boulders at the Stumpy Knowe near South Auchenmade, Ayrshire, Scotland (from Bog)
Image 4Many kinds of birds nest in marshes; this one is a yellow-headed blackbird. (from Marsh)
Image 5Sugar Fen, Norfolk (from Fen)
Image 6Wetland at the Broadmoor Wildlife Sanctuary in Massachusetts, United States, in February (from Wetland)
Image 7A bog in Lauhanvuori National Park, Isojoki, Finland (from Bog)
Image 8An expanse of wet Sphagnum bog in Frontenac National Park, Quebec, Canada. Spruce trees can be seen on a forested ridge in the background. (from Bog)
Image 9Bog with October morning mist in Mukri, Estonia (from Bog)
Image 10Aerial view of prairie potholes (from Marsh)
Image 11Precipitation accumulates in many bogs, forming bog pools, such as Koitjärve bog in Estonia. (from Bog)
Image 12Avaste Fen, Estonia. Sedges dominate the landscape, woody shrubs and trees are sparse. (from Fen)
Image 13A black alder swamp in Germany (from Swamp)
Image 14Many species of evergreen shrub are found in bogs, such as Labrador tea. (from Bog)
Image 15Snapping turtles are one of the many kinds of turtles found in wetlands. (from Wetland)
Image 16Pantanal in Brazil (from Swamp)
Image 17Difference between swamp and marsh (from Swamp)
Image 18Carnivorous plants, such as this Sarracenia purpurea pitcher plant of the eastern seaboard of North America, are often found in bogs. Capturing insects provides nitrogen and phosphorus, which are usually scarce in such conditions. (from Bog)
Image 19The wetlands of Cape May, New Jersey, US, comprise an extensive hydrological network that makes them an ornithologically important location to study the many birds which use the preserve as a place to nest. (from Wetland)
Image 20Dernford Fen, Cambridgeshire (from Fen)
Image 21Aerial image of Carbajal Valley peat bogs, Tierra del Fuego Province, Argentina (from Bog)
Image 22Fog rising over the Mukri bog near Mukri, Estonia. The bog has an area of 2,147 hectares (5,310 acres) and has been protected since 1992. (from Wetland)
Image 23A small swamp in Padstow, New South Wales, Australia (from Swamp)
Image 24Bud of water lotus (Nelumbo nucifera), an aquatic plant (from Wetland)
Image 25Peat bog and peat to dry, L'Isle-aux-Coudres, Quebec, Canada, 1976 (from Bog)
Image 26Spaulding Fen, Wisconsin. (from Fen)
Image 27Blanket bog in Connemara, Ireland (from Bog)
Image 28Sphagnum moss and sedges can produce floating bog mats along the shores of small lakes. This bog in Duck Lake, Oregon, US, supports populations of English sundew (Drosera anglica). (from Bog)
Image 29A wet meadow adjacent to Big Bear Lake, San Bernardino Mountains, California (from Marsh)
Image 30Marsh in shallow water on a lakeshore (from Marsh)
Image 31Wetlands contrast the hot, arid landscape around Middle Spring, Fish Springs National Wildlife Refuge, Utah. (from Wetland)
Image 32Sphagnum with northern pitcher plants at Brown's Lake Bog, Ohio, US (from Bog)
Image 33Small extreme rich fen in southwestern Minnesota. The white flowers, Parnassia glauca, are a fen indicator species in Minnesota. (from Fen)
Image 34Viru Bog in Lahemaa National Park, Estonia, which is rich in raised bogs (from Bog)
Image 35Many species of frogs live in wetlands, while others visit them each year to lay eggs. (from Wetland)
Image 36Inside a mangrove canopy, Salt Pan Creek, New South Wales (from Swamp)
Image 37A raised bog in Ķemeri National Park, Jūrmala, Latvia, formed approximately 10,000 years ago in the postglacial period and now a tourist attraction. (from Bog)
Image 38Marsh Arabs poling a mashoof (from Swamp)
Image 39A salt marsh in Scotland (from Marsh)
Image 40Marshlands are often noted within wetlands, as seen here at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in New York City. (from Wetland)
Image 41Vernal pools are ponded only during the wetter part of the year. (from Marsh)
Image 42Tourbière du Lac-à-la-Tortue (fr), ombrotrophic, Quebec, Canada (from Bog)
Image 43White water lilies are a typical marsh plant in European areas of deeper water. (from Marsh)
Image 44Humid wetland in Pennsylvania before a rain (from Wetland)
Image 45A bog in Ostfriesland (from Bog)
Image 46The Sitniki peat bog in Russia recultivated after industrial use (from Bog)
Image 47Swamp in southern Louisiana (from Swamp)
Image 48Wicken Fen, England. Grasses in the foreground are typical of a fen. (from Fen)
Image 49The Linnaistensuo Mire, a nature reserve swamp in Lahti, Finland. (from Swamp)
Image 50A freshwater swamp in Florida, United States (from Swamp)
Image 51Sunrise at Viru Bog, Estonia (from Wetland)
Image 52Marshlands are often noted within wetlands, as seen here in the New Jersey Meadowlands at Lyndhurst, New Jersey, U.S. (from Marsh)

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Credit: Lori Oberhofer, National Park Service

An alligator and a python struggle in Everglades National Park.

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Did you know...

... that many wetland species are unique due to their long isolation?

(Pictured left: A grayling found only in Lake Baikal.)

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v t e River morphology
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