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 portion of the C-38 canal, finished in 1971, now backfilled to restore the Kissimmee River floodplain to a more natural state.

The restoration of the Everglades is an ongoing effort to remedy damage inflicted on the environment of southern Florida during the 20th century. It is the most expensive and comprehensive environmental repair attempt in history. The degradation of the Everglades became an issue in the United States in the early 1970s after a proposal to construct a jetport in the Big Cypress Swamp. Studies indicated the airport would have destroyed the ecosystem in South Florida and Everglades National Park. After decades of destructive practices, both state and federal agencies are looking for ways to balance the needs of the natural environment in South Florida with urban and agricultural centers that have recently and rapidly grown in and near the Everglades.

In response to floods caused by hurricanes in 1947, the Central and Southern Florida Flood Control Project (C&SF) was established to construct flood control devices in the Everglades. The C&SF built 1,400 miles (2,300 km) of canals and levees between the 1950s and 1971 throughout South Florida. Their last venture was the C-38 canal, which straightened the Kissimmee River and caused catastrophic damage to animal habitats, adversely affecting water quality in the region. The canal became the first C&SF project to revert when the 22-mile (35 km) canal began to be backfilled, or refilled with the material excavated from it, in the 1980s. (Full article...)

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General images

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

Image 1The wetlands of Cape May, New Jersey, in the United States 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 2Pantanal in Brazil (from Swamp)
Image 3Many species of evergreen shrub are found in bogs, such as Labrador tea. (from Bog)
Image 4Viru Bog in Lahemaa National Park, Estonia, which is rich in raised bogs (from Bog)
Image 5Carnivorous 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 6Bog with October morning mist in Mukri, Estonia (from Bog)
Image 7The Linnaistensuo Mire, a nature reserve swamp in Lahti, Finland. (from Swamp)
Image 8Many kinds of birds nest in marshes; this one is a yellow-headed blackbird. (from Marsh)
Image 9Small extreme rich fen in southwestern Minnesota. The white flowers, Parnassia glauca, are a fen indicator species in Minnesota. (from Fen)
Image 10Bog-wood and boulders at the Stumpy Knowe near South Auchenmade, Ayrshire, Scotland (from Bog)
Image 11Sphagnum with northern pitcher plants at Brown's Lake Bog, Ohio, US (from Bog)
Image 12Snapping turtles are one of the many kinds of turtles found in wetlands. (from Wetland)
Image 13Inside a mangrove canopy, Salt Pan Creek, New South Wales (from Swamp)
Image 14Humid wetland in Pennsylvania before a rain (from Wetland)
Image 15Wicken Fen, England. Grasses in the foreground are typical of a fen. (from Fen)
Image 16Many species of frogs live in wetlands, while others visit them each year to lay eggs. (from Wetland)
Image 17Avaste Fen, Estonia. Sedges dominate the landscape, woody shrubs and trees are sparse. (from Fen)
Image 18Spaulding Fen, Wisconsin. (from Fen)
Image 19A freshwater swamp in Florida, United States (from Swamp)
Image 20A bog in Lauhanvuori National Park, Isojoki, Finland (from Bog)
Image 21The Sitniki peat bog in Russia recultivated after industrial use (from Bog)
Image 22Difference between swamp and marsh (from Swamp)
Image 23An 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 24Marsh Arabs poling a mashoof (from Swamp)
Image 25Kakerdaja Fen, Estonia (from Fen)
Image 26Sphagnum 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 27Precipitation accumulates in many bogs, forming bog pools, such as Koitjärve bog in Estonia. (from Bog)
Image 28Marshlands are often noted within wetlands, as seen here at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in New York City. (from Wetland)
Image 29Sunrise at Viru Bog, Estonia (from Wetland)
Image 30Tourbière du Lac-à-la-Tortue (fr), ombrotrophic, Quebec, Canada (from Bog)
Image 31Aerial image of Carbajal Valley peat bogs, Tierra del Fuego Province, Argentina (from Bog)
Image 32A 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 33Fog 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 34Peat bog and peat to dry, L'Isle-aux-Coudres, Quebec, Canada, 1976 (from Bog)
Image 35Sugar Fen, Norfolk (from Fen)
Image 36Marshlands are often noted within wetlands, as seen here in the New Jersey Meadowlands at Lyndhurst, New Jersey, U.S. (from Marsh)
Image 37A wet meadow adjacent to Big Bear Lake, San Bernardino Mountains, California (from Marsh)
Image 38A salt marsh in Scotland (from Marsh)
Image 39White water lilies are a typical marsh plant in European areas of deeper water. (from Marsh)
Image 40Wetland at the Broadmoor Wildlife Sanctuary in Massachusetts, United States, in February (from Wetland)
Image 41Swamp in southern Louisiana (from Swamp)
Image 42A bog in Ostfriesland (from Bog)
Image 43A wetland in the Chesapeake Bay drainage basin in Mallows Bay Park in Charles County, Maryland, in the United States. (from Wetland)
Image 44A marsh in Jyväskylä, Finland (from Marsh)
Image 45Blanket bog in Connemara, Ireland (from Bog)
Image 46Aerial view of prairie potholes (from Marsh)
Image 47Dernford Fen, Cambridgeshire (from Fen)
Image 48A small swamp in Padstow, New South Wales, Australia (from Swamp)
Image 49Marsh in shallow water on a lakeshore (from Marsh)
Image 50Bud of water lotus (Nelumbo nucifera), an aquatic plant (from Wetland)
Image 51Wetlands contrast the hot, arid landscape around Middle Spring, Fish Springs National Wildlife Refuge, Utah. (from Wetland)
Image 52Vernal pools are ponded only during the wetter part of the year. (from Marsh)
Image 53A black alder swamp in Germany (from Swamp)

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Black crappie

Credit: Eric Engbretson

Black Crappie.

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Did you know...

... that raised bogs start as lakes and over time turns to marsh, then fens as peat fills the lake?

(Pictured left: Viru Bog in Estonia)

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v t e River morphology
Large-scale features	Alluvial plain Drainage basin Drainage system (geomorphology) Estuary Strahler number (stream order) River valley River delta River sinuosity
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