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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Rushmere, on Wimbledon Common.

Mere in English refers to a lake that is broad in relation to its depth, e.g. Martin Mere. A significant effect of its shallow depth is that for all or most of the time, it has no thermocline.

The word once included the sea or an arm of the sea, in its range of meaning but this marine usage is now obsolete (OED). It is a poetical or dialect word meaning a sheet of standing water, a lake or a pond (OED). The OED's fourth definition ("A marsh, a fen.") includes wetland such as fen amongst usages of the word which is reflected in the lexicographers' recording of it. In a quotation from the year 598, mere is contrasted against moss (bog) and field against fen. The OED quotation from 1609 does not say what a mere is, except that it looks black. In 1629 mere and marsh were becoming interchangeable but in 1876 mere was 'heard, at times, applied to ground permanently under water': in other words, a very shallow lake.

Where land similar to that of Martin Mere, gently undulating glacial till, becomes flooded and develops fen and bog, the remnants of the original mere remain until the whole is filled with peat. This can be delayed where the mere is fed by lime-rich water from chalk or limestone upland and a significant proportion of the outflow from the mere takes the form of evaporation. (Full article...)

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General images

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

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

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Belostomatidae

Credit: Sdaryn

Belostomatidae.

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Did you know...

... that Barringer Slough is a remnant of the Des Moines lobe?

(Pictured left: An aerial photo of Barringer Slough.)

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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
Alluvial rivers	Anabranch Avulsion (river) Bar (river morphology) Braided river Channel pattern Cut bank Floodplain Meander Meander cutoff Mouth bar Oxbow lake Point bar Riffle Rapids Riparian zone River bifurcation River channel migration River mouth Slip-off slope Stream pool Thalweg
Bedrock river	Canyon Knickpoint Plunge pool
Bedforms	Ait Antidune Dune Current ripple
Regional processes	Aggradation Base level Degradation (geology) Erosion and tectonics River rejuvenation
Mechanics	Deposition (geology) Water erosion Exner equation Hack's law Helicoidal flow Playfair's law Sediment transport List of rivers that have reversed direction
Category