Portal:Wetlands

Portal topics: Activities; Culture; Geography; Health; History; Mathematics; Nature; People; Philosophy; Religion; Society; Technology; Random portal

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.

More about Wetlands ...

Refresh with new selections below (purge)

edit

Selected article

Smooth cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora), an Obligate Wetland (OBL) species in a salt marsh.

Wetland indicator status denotes the probability of individual species of vascular plants occurring in freshwater, brackish and saltwater wetlands in the United States. The wetland status of 7,000 plants is determined upon information contained in a list compiled in the National Wetland Inventory undertaken by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and developed in cooperation with a federal inter-agency review panel (Reed, 1988). The National List was compiled in 1988 with subsequent revisions in 1996 and 1998.

The wetland indicator status of a species is based upon the individual species occurrence in wetlands in 13 separate regions within the United States. In some instances the specified regions contain all or part of different floristic provinces and the tension zones which occur between them.

While many Obligate Wetland (OBL) species do occur in permanently or semi-permanently flooded wetlands, there are also a number of obligates that occur in and temporary or seasonally flooded wetlands. A few species are restricted entirely to these transient-type wetland environments.

Plant species are general indicators of various degrees of environmental factors; they are however not precise. The presence of a plant species at a specific site depends on a variety of climatic, edaphic and biotic factors, and the effect of individual factors such as degree of substrate saturation and depth and duration of standing water is impossible to isolate. (Full article...)

More selected articles

General images

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

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

edit

Law

edit

Selected picture

Riparian vegetation along the Pisuerga River

Riparian zone

Credit: User:LBleye

Riparian vegetation along the Pisuerga River.

More selected pictures

edit

Did you know...

... that high marshes have salinity levels up to four times that of sea water?

(Pictured left: Spartina patens.)

Other "Did you know" facts...

Read more...

edit

Related portals

edit

Organizations

edit

Topics

Pen & Earth

edit

Things you can do

Create articles: There are many articles that have yet to be started... Pick your favorite and start researching!
Find photos for articles: Many wetlands–related articles would be substantially better with the addition of one or more photographs. Feel free to take your own and upload them, or find ones with the appropriate licenses and upload them here!
Categorize articles: Figure out what categories to add to each article so that others can find them more easily.
Expand articles: There are many wetland stubs which could use extensive updates and development.
Find sources: Many of our articles are poorly sourced and could use much better citations.
Wikify: Add {{Portal|Wetlands}} to the See also sections of Wetlands-related articles.

edit

WikiProjects

edit

Wikimedia

The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:

Commons
Free media repository
Wikibooks
Free textbooks and manuals
Wikidata
Free knowledge base
Wikinews
Free-content news
Wikiquote
Collection of quotations
Wikisource
Free-content library
Wikispecies
Directory of species
Wikiversity
Free learning tools
Wikivoyage
Free travel guide
Wiktionary
Dictionary and thesaurus

Discover Wikipedia using portals

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 Portal

Introduction

Selected article

General images

Law

Selected picture

Did you know...

Categories

Related portals

Organizations

Topics

Things you can do

WikiProjects

Wikimedia