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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In the past tidal flats were considered unhealthy, economically unimportant areas and were often dredged and developed into agricultural land.< Several especially shallow mudflat areas, such as the Wadden Sea, are now popular among those practising the sport of mudflat hiking.
On the Baltic Sea coast of Germany in places, mudflats are exposed not by tidal action, but by wind-action driving water away from the shallows into the sea. These wind-affected mudflats are called windwatts in German.
Tidal flats, along with intertidal salt marshes and mangrove forests, are important ecosystems. They usually support a large population of wildlife, and are a key habitat that allows tens of millions of migratory shorebirds to migrate from breeding sites in the northern hemisphere to non-breeding areas in the southern hemisphere. They are often of vital importance to migratory birds, as well as certain species of crabs, mollusks and fish. In the United Kingdom mudflats have been classified as a Biodiversity Action Plan priority habitat. (Full article...)
General images
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Bog with October morning mist in Mukri, Estonia (from Bog) -
Bud of water lotus (Nelumbo nucifera), an aquatic plant (from Wetland) -
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Carnivorous 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) -
Fog 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)
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Humid wetland in Pennsylvania before a rain (from Wetland) -
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Avaste Fen, Estonia. Sedges dominate the landscape, woody shrubs and trees are sparse. (from Fen) -
Wetlands contrast the hot, arid landscape around Middle Spring, Fish Springs National Wildlife Refuge, Utah. (from Wetland) -
Many kinds of birds nest in marshes; this one is a yellow-headed blackbird. (from Marsh) -
Snapping turtles are one of the many kinds of turtles found in wetlands. (from Wetland) -
Marsh in shallow water on a lakeshore (from Marsh) -
Spaulding Fen, Wisconsin. (from Fen) -
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Sphagnum 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) -
Small extreme rich fen in southwestern Minnesota. The white flowers, Parnassia glauca, are a fen indicator species in Minnesota. (from Fen) -
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Aerial view of prairie potholes (from Marsh) -
A bog in Ostfriesland (from Bog) -
Difference between swamp and marsh (from Swamp)
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Sugar Fen, Norfolk (from Fen) -
A 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) -
A wetland in the Chesapeake Bay drainage basin in Mallows Bay Park in Charles County, Maryland, in the United States. (from Wetland) -
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Dernford Fen, Cambridgeshire (from Fen) -
Kakerdaja Fen, Estonia (from Fen) -
Marshlands are often noted within wetlands, as seen here in the New Jersey Meadowlands at Lyndhurst, New Jersey, U.S. (from Marsh) -
White water lilies are a typical marsh plant in European areas of deeper water. (from Marsh) -
A small swamp in Padstow, New South Wales, Australia (from Swamp) -
The 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) -
Sunrise at Viru Bog, Estonia (from Wetland) -
Marsh Arabs poling a mashoof (from Swamp) -
Many species of evergreen shrub are found in bogs, such as Labrador tea. (from Bog) -
Wicken Fen, England. Grasses in the foreground are typical of a fen. (from Fen) -
Wetland at the Broadmoor Wildlife Sanctuary in Massachusetts, United States, in February (from Wetland) -
An 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) -
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Precipitation accumulates in many bogs, forming bog pools, such as Koitjärve bog in Estonia. (from Bog) -
Marshlands are often noted within wetlands, as seen here at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in New York City. (from Wetland) -
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Vernal pools are ponded only during the wetter part of the year. (from Marsh) -
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Categories
Related portals
Organizations
- America's Wetland Foundation
- Birds Korea
- Delta Waterfowl Foundation
- Ducks Unlimited
- Foundation for Ecological Security
- Irish Peatland Conservation Council
- National Wetlands Coalition
- Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership
- Union Sportsmen's Alliance
- Wetlands International
- Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust
Topics
- Acrotelm
- Aquatic ecosystem
- Aquatic plants
- Atchafalaya Basin
- Backswamp
- Bayou
- Beach meadow
- Blackwater river
- Blanket bog
- Bog
- Bog bodies
- Bog butter
- Bog garden
- Bog iron
- Bog snorkelling
- Bog-wood
- Brackish marsh
- Callows
- Carr (landform)
- Cataract bog
- Cienega
- Coniferous swamp
- Converted wetland
- Dambo
- Drainage basin
- Drought refuge
- Estuary
- Everglades
- Fen
- Fen-meadow
- Flark
- Flooded grasslands and savannas
- Flood-meadow
- Floodplain
- Freshwater swamp forest
- Grass valley
- Guelta
- Halosere
- High Fens
- High marsh
- Hamuns
- Hydric soil
- Hydrology
- Hydrosere
- Igapó
- Ings
- Integrated constructed wetland
- Interdunal wetland
- Intertidal wetland
- Kettle (landform)
- Lagoon
- Lake ecosystem
- Limnology
- List of bogs
- List of fen plants
- Low marsh
- Meadowview Biological Research Station
- Marsh
- Marsh gas
- Mere
- Mire
- Misse
- Moorland
- Muck
- Mudflat
- Muskeg
- Myristica swamp
- Oasis
- Ombrotrophic
- Paludification
- Palustrine wetland
- Pantanal
- Peat
- Peat swamp forest
- Pond
- Pothole
- Prairie Pothole Region
- Ramsar site
- Reed bed
- Restoration of the Everglades
- Riparian zone
- River delta
- River ecosystem
- Salt marsh
- Salt marsh dieback
- Salt marsh die-off
- Salt pannes and pools
- Shrub swamp
- Slough (hydrology)
- Sphagnum
- String bog
- Sudd
- Swale
- Swamp
- Tropical peat
- Várzea forest
- Vernal pool
- Water stagnation
- Wetland classification
- Wetland conservation
- Wetland indicator status
- Wetland methane emissions
- Wetlands International
- Wetlands
- Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust
- Will-o'-the-wisp
- Yaéré
| Large-scale features | |
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| Alluvial rivers | |
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