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.
Selected article
Bog butter is found buried inside some sort of wooden container, such as buckets, kegs, barrels, dishes and butter churns. It is of animal origin, and is also known as butyrellite. Until 2003 scientists and archaeologists were not quite sure of the origin of bog butter. Scientists working at the University of Bristol discovered that some samples of the "butter" were of adipose/tallow origin while others were of dairy origin.
In Scotland, the practice of burying bog butter dates back to at least the 2nd or 3rd century. Until recently, Ireland's oldest recorded find of bog butter was a carved hanging bowl dating back to the 6th or 7th century AD. On 28 April 2011, there were press reports of a find of approximately 50 kilograms (110 lb) of bog butter in Tullamore, County Offaly, thought to date back about five millennia. Found in a carved wooden vessel 0.3 metres (0.98 ft) in diameter and 0.6 metres (2.0 ft) in height, it was buried at a depth of 2.3 metres (7.5 ft), and still bore a faint smell of dairy. (Full article...)
General images
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Sugar Fen, Norfolk (from Fen) -
A small swamp in Padstow, New South Wales, Australia (from Swamp) -
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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) -
Dernford Fen, Cambridgeshire (from Fen) -
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Wetland at the Broadmoor Wildlife Sanctuary in Massachusetts, United States, in February (from Wetland) -
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Many species of evergreen shrub are found in bogs, such as Labrador tea. (from Bog) -
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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) -
Snapping turtles are one of the many kinds of turtles found in wetlands. (from Wetland) -
Kakerdaja Fen, Estonia (from Fen) -
Difference between swamp and marsh (from Swamp) -
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Wicken Fen, England. Grasses in the foreground are typical of a fen. (from Fen) -
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Precipitation accumulates in many bogs, forming bog pools, such as Koitjärve bog in Estonia. (from Bog) -
A bog in Ostfriesland (from Bog) -
Aerial view of prairie potholes (from Marsh) -
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) -
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) -
Many kinds of birds nest in marshes; this one is a yellow-headed blackbird. (from Marsh) -
Sunrise at Viru Bog, Estonia (from Wetland) -
Marshlands are often noted within wetlands, as seen here at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in New York City. (from Wetland) -
Marshlands are often noted within wetlands, as seen here in the New Jersey Meadowlands at Lyndhurst, New Jersey, U.S. (from Marsh) -
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Bud of water lotus (Nelumbo nucifera), an aquatic plant (from Wetland) -
The 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) -
White water lilies are a typical marsh plant in European areas of deeper water. (from Marsh) -
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Marsh Arabs poling a mashoof (from Swamp) -
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Humid wetland in Pennsylvania before a rain (from Wetland) -
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Bog with October morning mist in Mukri, Estonia (from Bog)
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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) -
Wetlands contrast the hot, arid landscape around Middle Spring, Fish Springs National Wildlife Refuge, Utah. (from Wetland) -
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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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Vernal pools are ponded only during the wetter part of the year. (from Marsh) -
Avaste Fen, Estonia. Sedges dominate the landscape, woody shrubs and trees are sparse. (from Fen) -
Spaulding Fen, Wisconsin. (from Fen) -
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Marsh in shallow water on a lakeshore (from Marsh)
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Did you know...
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 | |
| Bedrock river | |
| Bedforms | |
| Regional processes | |
| Mechanics | |
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