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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Pocosin forested by pond pines and white cedars

Pocosin is a term for a type of palustrine wetland with deep, acidic, sandy, peat soils. Groundwater saturates the soil except during brief seasonal dry spells and during prolonged droughts. Pocosin soils are nutrient deficient (oligotrophic), especially in phosphorus.

Pocosins occur in the Atlantic coastal plain of North America, spanning from southeastern Virginia, through North Carolina, and into South Carolina. However, the majority of pocosins are found in North Carolina. They occupy poorly drained higher ground between streams and floodplains. Seeps cause the inundation. There are often perched water tables underlying pocosins.

Shrub vegetation is common. Pocosins are sometimes called shrub bogs. Pond pines dominate pocosin forests, but loblolly pine and longleaf pine are also associated with pocosins. Additionally, pocosins are home to rare and threatened plant species including Venus flytrap and sweet pitcher plant. (Full article...)

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

Image 1The Sitniki peat bog in Russia recultivated after industrial use (from Bog)
Image 2Sugar Fen, Norfolk (from Fen)
Image 3Many species of evergreen shrub are found in bogs, such as Labrador tea. (from Bog)
Image 4Wicken Fen, England. Grasses in the foreground are typical of a fen. (from Fen)
Image 5Peat bog and peat to dry, L'Isle-aux-Coudres, Quebec, Canada, 1976 (from Bog)
Image 6Bud of water lotus (Nelumbo nucifera), an aquatic plant (from Wetland)
Image 7Spaulding Fen, Wisconsin. (from Fen)
Image 8A wet meadow adjacent to Big Bear Lake, San Bernardino Mountains, California (from Marsh)
Image 9Avaste Fen, Estonia. Sedges dominate the landscape, woody shrubs and trees are sparse. (from Fen)
Image 10Pantanal in Brazil (from Swamp)
Image 11Swamp in southern Louisiana (from Swamp)
Image 12Sphagnum with northern pitcher plants at Brown's Lake Bog, Ohio, US (from Bog)
Image 13Dernford Fen, Cambridgeshire (from Fen)
Image 14Aerial view of prairie potholes (from Marsh)
Image 15A marsh in Jyväskylä, Finland (from Marsh)
Image 16The 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 17Small extreme rich fen in southwestern Minnesota. The white flowers, Parnassia glauca, are a fen indicator species in Minnesota. (from Fen)
Image 18White water lilies are a typical marsh plant in European areas of deeper water. (from Marsh)
Image 19Marshlands are often noted within wetlands, as seen here at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in New York City. (from Wetland)
Image 20Marsh in shallow water on a lakeshore (from Marsh)
Image 21Tourbière du Lac-à-la-Tortue (fr), ombrotrophic, Quebec, Canada (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 24Snapping turtles are one of the many kinds of turtles found in wetlands. (from Wetland)
Image 25A 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 26A freshwater swamp in Florida, United States (from Swamp)
Image 27Precipitation accumulates in many bogs, forming bog pools, such as Koitjärve bog in Estonia. (from Bog)
Image 28A salt marsh in Scotland (from Marsh)
Image 29Viru Bog in Lahemaa National Park, Estonia, which is rich in raised bogs (from Bog)
Image 30Vernal pools are ponded only during the wetter part of the year. (from Marsh)
Image 31An 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 32Marsh Arabs poling a mashoof (from Swamp)
Image 33Aerial image of Carbajal Valley peat bogs, Tierra del Fuego Province, Argentina (from Bog)
Image 34Bog with October morning mist in Mukri, Estonia (from Bog)
Image 35Many species of frogs live in wetlands, while others visit them each year to lay eggs. (from Wetland)
Image 36Wetlands contrast the hot, arid landscape around Middle Spring, Fish Springs National Wildlife Refuge, Utah. (from Wetland)
Image 37Carnivorous 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 38Humid wetland in Pennsylvania before a rain (from Wetland)
Image 39Sunrise at Viru Bog, Estonia (from Wetland)
Image 40The Linnaistensuo Mire, a nature reserve swamp in Lahti, Finland. (from Swamp)
Image 41Marshlands are often noted within wetlands, as seen here in the New Jersey Meadowlands at Lyndhurst, New Jersey, U.S. (from Marsh)
Image 42A bog in Ostfriesland (from Bog)
Image 43Difference between swamp and marsh (from Swamp)
Image 44A bog in Lauhanvuori National Park, Isojoki, Finland (from Bog)
Image 45Inside a mangrove canopy, Salt Pan Creek, New South Wales (from Swamp)
Image 46Kakerdaja Fen, Estonia (from Fen)
Image 47Sphagnum 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 48Blanket bog in Connemara, Ireland (from Bog)
Image 49Bog-wood and boulders at the Stumpy Knowe near South Auchenmade, Ayrshire, Scotland (from Bog)
Image 50Many kinds of birds nest in marshes; this one is a yellow-headed blackbird. (from Marsh)
Image 51Wetland at the Broadmoor Wildlife Sanctuary in Massachusetts, United States, in February (from Wetland)
Image 52A black alder swamp in Germany (from Swamp)

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Tidal Salt Marsh at the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge

Tidal marsh

Credit: User:Captain-tucker

Tidal Salt Marsh at the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge.

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Did you know...

... that wetlands can remove toxins from industrial discharges?

(Pictured left: Floating lilies.)

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v t e River morphology
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