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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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Bayou Corne in Louisiana, October 2010

A bayou is a Franco-English term used in the United States for a body of water typically found in a flat, low-lying area, and can refer either to an extremely slow-moving stream or river (often with a poorly defined shoreline), or to a marshy lake or wetland. The name "bayou" can also refer to a creek whose current reverses daily due to tides and which contains brackish water highly conducive to fish life and plankton. Bayous are commonly found in the Gulf Coast region of the southern United States, notably the Mississippi River Delta, with the states of Louisiana and Texas being famous for them. A bayou is frequently an anabranch or minor braid of a braided channel that is moving much more slowly than the mainstem, often becoming boggy and stagnant. Though fauna varies by region, many bayous are home to crawfish, certain species of shrimp, other shellfish, catfish, frogs, toads, American alligators, American crocodiles, herons, turtles, spoonbills, snakes, leeches and myriad other species.

Bayou Country is most closely associated with Cajun and Creole cultural groups native to the Gulf Coast region generally stretching from Houston, Texas, to Mobile, Alabama, and picking back up in South Florida around the Everglades with its center in New Orleans. (Full article...)

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General images

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

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

Credit: Walter Siegmund

Red-winged Blackbird.

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Did you know...

... that drought refuges help conserve ecosystems where climatic stability is threatened?

(Pictured left: Oasis in Oman.)

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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
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