15 Facts About Wetlands

Wetlands are considered among the most biologically diverse of all ecosystems, serving as home to a wide range of plant and animal species.

Wetlands can be important sources and sinks of carbon, depending on the specific wetland, and thus will play an important role in climate change and need to be considered in attempts to mitigate impacts.

Wetlands have unique characteristics: they are generally distinguished from other water bodies or landforms based on their water level and on the types of plants that live within them.

Wetlands have been described as ecotones, providing a transition between dry land and water bodies.

Wetlands vary widely due to local and regional differences in topography, hydrology, vegetation, and other factors, including human involvement.

Wetlands are generally minerotrophic with the exception of ombrotrophic bogs that are fed only by water from precipitation.

Wetlands are adept at impacting the water chemistry of streams or water bodies that interact with them, and can process ions that result from water pollution such as acid mine drainage or urban runoff.

Wetlands attract many mammals due to abundant seeds, berries, and other vegetation as food for herbivores, as well as abundant populations of invertebrates, small reptiles and amphibians as prey for predators.

Wetlands can act as recharge areas when the surrounding water table is low and as a discharge zone when it is too high.

Wetlands naturally produce an array of vegetation and other ecological products that can be harvested for personal and commercial use.

Wetlands perform two important functions in relation to climate change.

Wetlands have historically been the victim of large draining efforts for real estate development, or flooding for use as recreational lakes or hydropower generation.

Wetlands are vital ecosystems that provide livelihoods for the millions of people who live in and around them.

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.

Wetlands can be dry during the dry season and abnormally dry periods during the wet season, but under normal environmental conditions the soils in a wetland will be saturated to the surface or inundated such that the soils become anaerobic, and those conditions will persist through the wet portion of the growing season.