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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Wetlands support a vast and intricate food web which provides many functions and services to nature and humans.

Wetland conservation is aimed at protecting and preserving areas where water exists at or near the Earth's surface, such as swamps, marshes and bogs. Wetlands cover at least six per cent of the Earth and have become a focal issue for conservation due to the ecosystem services they provide. More than three billion people, around half the world’s population, obtain their basic water needs from inland freshwater wetlands. The same number of people rely on rice as their staple food, a crop grown largely in natural and artificial wetlands. In some parts of the world, such as the Kilombero wetland in Tanzania, almost the entire local population relies on wetland cultivation for their livelihoods.

Fisheries are also an extremely important source of protein and income in many wetlands. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, the total catch from inland waters (rivers and wetlands) was 8.7 million metric tonnes in 2002. In addition to food, wetlands supply fibre, fuel and medicinal plants. They also provide valuable ecosystems for birds and other aquatic creatures, help reduce the damaging impact of floods, control pollution and regulate the climate. From economic importance, to aesthetics, the reasons for conserving wetlands have become numerous over the past few decades. (Full article...)

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

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

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Goose

Credit: Image taken bu Alan D. Wilson, and modified by User:Diliff (cropped and noise reduction applied).

A Canada Goose flying at Burnaby Lake Regional Park, British Columbia.

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Did you know...

... that in the U.S. cats kill over a billion bird annually?

(Pictured left: Cats eating a marsh rabbit.)

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