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wetland

 
Dictionary: wet·land   (wĕt'lănd') pronunciation
 
n.

A lowland area, such as a marsh or swamp, that is saturated with moisture, especially when regarded as the natural habitat of wildlife: a program to preserve our state's wetlands.


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Thesaurus: wetland
 

noun

    A usually low-lying area of soft waterlogged ground and standing water: bog, fen, marsh, marshland, mire, morass, muskeg, quag, quagmire, slough1, swamp, swampland. See dry/wet.

 
Geography Dictionary: wetland
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Any land which is intermittently or periodically waterlogged. This includes salt marshes, tidal estuaries, marshes, and bogs. Wetlands are rapidly disappearing habitats; the Everglades National Park, Florida, is a complex of coastal mangroves, tropical saw-grass marshes, and forest on the slightly raised areas, but flood-control measures to the north, and the ever-increasing number of visitors cause intense pressure on the ecosystem. Other wetlands are increasingly being reclaimed for agriculture, industry, or housing.

In the United States a constructed wetland can involve engineering of hydrology and soils, and is intentionally created from non-wetland sites for the sole purpose of wastewater or storm water treatment, but literature from elsewhere may not distinguish between these terms. The concept of a designer wetland emphasizes the life history strategy of species as the major factor in developing vegetation on a restoration site. It favours engineering and replanting strategies directed at producing a wetland type, with no fixed endpoint. Wetland mitigation is the replacing of wetland areas destroyed or impacted by proposed land disturbances with artificially created wetland areas.

 
Wikipedia: Wetland
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Florida's Everglades, the largest wetland system in the United States.[1]
Biomes
Terrestrial biomes
Tundra
Taiga/boreal forests
Montane grasslands and shrublands
Temperate coniferous forests
Tropical and subtropical coniferous forests
Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests
Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub
Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests
Tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests
Temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands
Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands
Deserts and xeric shrublands
Flooded grasslands and savannas
Riparian
Wetland
Aquatic biomes
Pond
Littoral/intertidal zone
Mangrove forests
Kelp forest
Coral reef
Neritic zone
Continental shelf
Pelagic zone
Benthic zone
Hydrothermal vents
Cold seeps
Pack ice
Other biomes
Endolithic zone
This article contains general information pertaining to all wetlands. For more details, see the specific wetland types, such as bog, marsh, and swamp. For Charlotte Roche's novel see Feuchtgebiete.

A wetland is an area of land whose soil is saturated with moisture either permanently or seasonally. Such areas may also be covered partially or completely by shallow pools of water.[2] Wetlands include swamps, marshes, and bogs, among others. The water found in wetlands can be saltwater, freshwater, or brackish.

Wetlands are considered the most biologically diverse of all ecosystems. Plant life found in wetlands includes mangrove, water lilies, cattails, sedges, tamarack, black spruce, cypress, gum, and many others. Animal life includes many different amphibians, reptiles, birds, and furbearers.[3]

In many locations, such as the United Kingdom, Iraq, South Africa and the United States, wetlands are the subject of conservation efforts and Biodiversity Action Plans.

Contents

Technical definitions

Wetlands have been categorized both as biomes and ecosystems.[3] They are generally distinguished from other water bodies or landforms based on their water level and on the types of plants that thrive within them. Specifically, wetlands are characterized as having a water table that stands at or near the land surface for a long enough season each year to support aquatic plants.[3][4][5] Put simply, wetlands are lands made up of hydric soil.

Wetlands have also been described as ecotones, providing a transition between dry land and water bodies.[6] Mitsch and Gosselink write that wetlands exist "...at the interface between truly terrestrial ecosystems and aquatic systems, making them inherently different from each other, yet highly dependent on both."[7]

Under the Ramsar Convention:

  • Article 1.1: "...wetlands are areas of marsh, fen, peatland or water, whether natural or artificial, permanent or temporary, with water that is static or flowing, fresh, brackish or salt, including areas of marine water the depth of which at low tide does not exceed six metres."
  • Article 2.1: "[Wetlands] may incorporate riparian and coastal zones adjacent to the wetlands, and islands or bodies of marine water deeper than six metres at low tide lying within the wetlands".

Conservation

Due to their lack of potential financial benefits, wetlands have historically been the victim of large-scale draining efforts for real estate development, or flooding for use as recreational lakes. Wetlands provide a valuable flood control function, but building levees helps replace natural flood controls. Wetlands were very effective at filtering and cleaning water[8], so to help with the ever increasing challenge of decreasing water pollution (often from agricultural runoff from the farms that replaced the wetlands in the first place), millions of dollars have been invested on water purification plants and expensive remediation measures. The USA came to understand how biologically productive wetlands are, so the USA passed laws limiting wetlands destruction, and created requirements that if a wetland had to be drained, developers at least had to offset the loss by creating artificial wetlands. One example is the project by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to control flooding and enhance development by taming the Everglades, a project which has now been reversed to restore much of the wetlands as a natural habitat for plant and animal life, as well as a method of flood control.

By 1993 half the world's wetlands had been drained.[9] Since the 1970s, more focus has been put on preserving wetlands for their natural function — sometimes also at great expense.

The South African Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism in conjunction with the departments of Water Affairs and Forestry, and of Agriculture, supports the conservation and rehabilitation of wetlands through the Working for Wetlands program.[10] The aim of this program is to encourage the protection, rehabilitation and sustainable use of South African wetlands through co-operative governance and partnerships. The program is also a poverty relief effort, providing employment in wetland maintenance.

Over 90% of the wetlands in New Zealand have been drained since European settlement, predominantly to create farmland. Wetlands now have a degree of protection under the Resource Management Act.

Ramsar Convention

The Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, especially as Waterfowl Habitat, or Ramsar Convention, is an international treaty designed to address global concerns regarding wetland loss and degradation. The primary purposes of the treaty are to list wetlands of international importance and to promote their wise use, with the ultimate goal of preserving the world's wetlands. Methods include restricting access to the majority portion of wetland areas, as well as educating the public to combat the misconception that wetlands are wastelands.

Climate

Temperature

Temperatures vary greatly depending on the location of the wetland. Many of the world's wetlands are in temperate zones (midway between the North and South Poles and the equator). In these zones, summers are warm and winters are cold, but temperatures are not extreme. However, wetlands found in the tropic zone, which is around the equator, are always warm. Temperatures in wetlands on the Arabian Peninsula, for example, can reach 122°F (50°C). In northeastern Siberia, which has a polar climate, wetland temperatures can be as cold as -60°F (-5l °C).

Rainfall

The amount of rainfall a wetland receives depends upon its location. Wetlands in Wales, Scotland, and western Ireland receive about 59 inches (150 centimeters) per year. Those in Southeast Asia, where heavy rains occur, can receive up to 200 inches (500 centimeters). In the northern areas of North America, wetlands exist where as little as 6 inches (15 centimeters) of rain fall each year.

List of wetland types

See also


References

Further reading

External links


 
Translations: Wetland
Top

Dansk (Danish)
n. - marsk, vådområde

Nederlands (Dutch)
land dat voor een deel van het jaar onder water staat

Français (French)
n. - terres marécageuses

Deutsch (German)
n. - Feuchtgebiet

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - υδροβιότοπος

Italiano (Italian)
palude

Português (Portuguese)
n. - pântano (m)

Русский (Russian)
сильно увлажненная земля

Español (Spanish)
n. - pantano

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - våtmark

中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
潮湿的土壤, 沼泽地

中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 潮濕的土壤, 沼澤地

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 습지대

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 湿地帯

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) منطقه ذات رطوبه عاليه‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮ביצה, אדמה רוויית לחות‬


 
 

 

Copyrights:

Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Thesaurus. Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary Copyright © 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Geography Dictionary. A Dictionary of Geography. Copyright © Susan Mayhew 1992, 1997, 2004. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Wetland" Read more
Translations. Copyright © 2007, WizCom Technologies Ltd. All rights reserved.  Read more

 

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