Wetlands Are Wonderful
All about wetlands!
What is a wetland?
Wetlands are lands where saturation with water is the dominant factor determining the nature of soil development and the types of plant and animal communities living in the soil and on its surface.
The 4 types of wetlands
- A wetland biome that consist of 4 different types of wetlands such as bogs, marshes, fens, and swamps.
- Each of these different wetlands have different characteristics from one another. For example a swamp is the only type of wetland that grows trees.
- The picture that you see to your right is a marsh it is a tract of low wet land, often treeless and periodically inundated,generally characterized by a growth of grasses, sedges, cattails, and rushes.
The types of wetlands
Bog
wet, spongy ground with soil composed mainly of decayed vegetable matter.
Swamp
A tract of wet, spongy land, often having a growth of certain types of vegetation, but unfit for cultivation.
Fen
low land covered wholly or partially with water.
Uses for wetlands
Uses / Statistics
- Wetlands can act as a sponge, they can help with flooding by retaining some some of the water in place.
- Wetlands can help purify water.
- Wetlands can also prevent shoreline erosion.
- Six states lost 85% or more of their original wetland acreage, while twenty-two lost 50% or more.
- over 52%of our original wetlands have been lost due to development.
- 43% of threatened or endangered species in the U.S. live in or depend on wetlands. This includes plants and animals.
Why should we keep wetlands?
- As i you read this right now wetlands are being destroyed. For many resons maybe a new city, or a store needed more parking. And its very sad because people are destroying them and they are not only destroying the wetlands they are also destroying animals homes and killing plants.
- But there is still ways that we can prevent wetlands from being destroyed. For instance the government has made laws to prevent wetlands from being destroyed, towns have adaped a local wetland protection system.