A swamp is a forested wetland. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in creating this environment. Swamps vary in size and are located all around the world. The water of a swamp may be fresh water, brackish water, or seawater. Freshwater swamps form along large rivers or lakes where they are critically dependent upon rainwater and seasonal flooding to maintain natural water level fluctuations. Saltwater swamps are found along tropical and subtropical coastlines. Some swamps have hammocks, or dry-land protrusions, covered by aquatic vegetation, or vegetation that tolerates periodic inundation or soil saturation. The two main types of swamp are "true" or swamp forests and "transitional" or shrub swamps. In the boreal regions of Canada, the word swamp is colloquially used for what is more formally termed a bog, fen, or muskeg. Some of the world's largest swamps are found along major rivers such as the Amazon, the Mississippi, and the Congo.
Wetlands, or simply a wetland, is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently or seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The primary factor that distinguishes wetlands from terrestrial land forms or water bodies is the characteristic vegetation of aquatic plants, adapted to the unique anoxic hydric soils. Wetlands are considered among the most biologically diverse of all ecosystems, serving as home to a wide range of plant and animal species. Methods for assessing wetland functions, wetland ecological health, and general wetland condition have been developed for many regions of the world. These methods have contributed to wetland conservation partly by raising public awareness of the functions some wetlands provide. Constructed wetlands are designed and built to treat municipal and industrial wastewater as well as to divert stormwater runoff. Constructed wetlands may also play a role in water-sensitive urban design.
A marsh is - according to ecological definitions - a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species. More in general, the word can be used for any low-lying and seasonally waterlogged terrain. In Europe and in agricultural literature low-lying meadows that require draining and embanked polderlands are also referred to as marshes or marshland.
A Ramsar site is a wetland site designated to be of international importance under the Ramsar Convention, also known as "The Convention on Wetlands", an international environmental treaty signed on 2 February 1971 in Ramsar, Iran, under the auspices of UNESCO. It came into force on 21 December 1975, when it was ratified by a sufficient number of nations. It provides for national action and international cooperation regarding the conservation of wetlands, and wise sustainable use of their resources. Ramsar identifies wetlands of international importance, especially those providing waterfowl habitat.
A tidal marsh is a marsh found along rivers, coasts and estuaries which floods and drains by the tidal movement of the adjacent estuary, sea or ocean. Tidal marshes experience many overlapping persistent cycles, including diurnal and semi-diurnal tides, day-night temperature fluctuations, spring-neap tides, seasonal vegetation growth and decay, upland runoff, decadal climate variations, and centennial to millennial trends in sea level and climate.
An aquatic ecosystem is an ecosystem found in and around a body of water, in contrast to land-based terrestrial ecosystems. Aquatic ecosystems contain communities of organisms—aquatic life—that are dependent on each other and on their environment. The two main types of aquatic ecosystems are marine ecosystems and freshwater ecosystems. Freshwater ecosystems may be lentic ; lotic ; and wetlands.
Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally or be the result of human activity. It may be the mature vegetation type in a particular region and remain stable over time, or a transitional community that occurs temporarily as the result of a disturbance, such as fire. A stable state may be maintained by regular natural disturbance such as fire or browsing. Shrubland may be unsuitable for human habitation because of the danger of fire. The term was coined in 1903.
Lake Apopka is the fourth largest lake in the U.S. state of Florida. It is located 15 miles (24 km) northwest of Orlando, mostly within the bounds of Orange County, although the western part is in Lake County. Fed by a natural spring, rainfall and stormwater runoff, water from Lake Apopka flows through the Apopka-Beauclair Canal and into Lakes Beauclair and Dora. From Lake Dora, water flows into Lake Eustis, then into Lake Griffin and then northward into the Ocklawaha River, which flows into the St. Johns River. Multiple parks or nature trails are present around the lake including Magnolia Park, Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive, Ferndale Preserve, Oakland Nature Preserve, Dr. Bradford Memorial Park, and Newton Park, named for A. B. Newton.
Pocosin is a type of palustrine wetland with deep, acidic, sandy, peat soils. Groundwater saturates the soil except during brief seasonal dry spells and during prolonged droughts. Pocosin soils are nutrient-deficient (oligotrophic), especially in phosphorus.
Great Bay is located in southern New Jersey's Atlantic Coastal Plain in Ocean and Atlantic Counties, about ten miles (16 km) north of Atlantic City and 87 mi (140 km) south of New York City. The Mullica River flows into the bay, and together they form the Mullica River - Great Bay estuary habitat. The bay is connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Little Egg Inlet. Great Bay is considered one of the least-disturbed marine wetlands habitats in the northeastern United States.
The wildlife of the Gambia is dictated by several habitat zones over the Gambia's land area of about 10,000 km2. It is bound in the south by the savanna and on the north by the Sudanian woodlands. The habitats host abundant indigenous plants and animals, in addition to migrant species and newly planted species. They vary widely and consist of the marine system, coastal zone, estuary with mangrove vegetation coupled with Banto Faros, river banks with brackish and fresh water zones, swamps covered with forests and many wetlands.
Classification of wetlands has been a problematical task, with the commonly accepted definition of what constitutes a wetland being among the major difficulties. A number of national wetland classifications exist. In the 1970s, the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance introduced a first attempt to establish an internationally acceptable wetland classification scheme.
Shrub swamps — also called scrub swamps or buttonbush swamps — are a type of freshwater wetland ecosystem occurring in areas too wet to become swamps, but too dry or too shallow to become marshes. They are often considered transitional (“mid-successional”) between wet meadows or fens and conifer or hardwood swamps.
A freshwater marsh is a non-tidal, non-forested marsh wetland that contains fresh water, and is continuously or frequently flooded. Freshwater marshes primarily consist of sedges, grasses, and emergent plants. Freshwater marshes are usually found near the mouths of rivers, along lakes, and are present in areas with low drainage like abandoned oxbow lakes. It is the counterpart to the salt marsh, an upper coastal intertidal zone of bio-habitat, which is regularly flushed with sea water.
The Yanga National Park is a newly formed national park, located near the township of Balranald in south- western New South Wales. It covers an area of 66,734 hectares which includes 1,932 hectares of Yanga Nature Reserve, and has a frontage of 170 kilometres (110 mi) on the Murrumbidgee River. It is largely located in the Lower Murrumbidgee Floodplain, which is included on A Directory of Important Wetlands in Australia because of its importance as a breeding site for waterbirds when flooded.
Moulting Lagoon Important Bird Area is a composite wetland site in eastern Tasmania, Australia. It comprises two adjacent and hydrologically continuous wetlands – Moulting Lagoon and the Apsley Marshes – at the head of Great Oyster Bay, near the base of the Freycinet Peninsula, between the towns of Swansea and Bicheno. Both components of the site are listed separately under the Ramsar Convention as wetlands of international significance. Moulting Lagoon is so named because it is a traditional moulting place for black swans. It is an important site for waterbirds.
The Southeastern conifer forests are a temperate coniferous forest ecoregion of the southeastern United States. It is the largest conifer forest ecoregion east of the Mississippi River. It is also the southernmost instance of temperate coniferous forest within the Nearctic realm.
The Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve includes land and water areas along the St. Louis River and Lake Superior in Douglas County, in the northwest corner of Wisconsin, United States. It is one of 29 National Estuarine Research Reserves. The Reserve is operated as a program of the Natural Resources Institute of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Division of Extension. It has an area of 16,697 acres (6,757 ha), and was designated in 2010.
Widgeon Valley National Wildlife Area is a National Wildlife Area located near the south end of Pitt Lake in British Columbia, Canada. The property was purchased by the Nature Trust of British Columbia in 1973 and declared a National Wildlife Area by the Canadian Wildlife Service in October of that year. The Widgeon Valley National Wildlife Area is a biologically diverse marsh wetland. It is the traditional territory of various First Nations groups. The Widgeon Valley Wildlife Area is a protected wildlife area that is home to a number of sensitive waterfowl and fish species. The public uses the channels through the Widgeon Valley National Wildlife Area for recreational canoeing, anywhere else within the protected area is strictly off-limits to the public. There are future plans to develop interpretive trails through the park and open it to the public.
The Cowardin classification system is a system for classifying wetlands, devised by Lewis M. Cowardin et al. in 1979 for the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. The system includes five main types of wetlands:
- Marine wetlands- which are areas exposed to the open ocean
- Estuarine wetlands- partially enclosed by land and also exposed to a mixture of fresh and salt water bodies of water
- Riverine wetlands- associated with flowing water
- Lacustrine wetlands- associated with a lake or other body of fresh water
- Palustrine wetlands- freshwater wetlands not associated with a river or lake.
