Portal:Wetlands

Portal topics: Activities; Culture; Geography; Health; History; Mathematics; Nature; People; Philosophy; Religion; Society; Technology; Random portal

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.

More about Wetlands ...

Refresh with new selections below (purge)

edit

Selected article

Forested swamp in Osceola National Forest.

Palustrine wetlands include any inland wetland which lacks flowing water, contains ocean-derived salts in concentrations of less than 0.5 parts per thousand, and is non-tidal. The word palustrine comes from the Latin word palus or marsh. Wetlands within this category include inland marshes and swamps as well as bogs, fens, tundra and floodplains.

Palustrine wetlands are one of five categories of wetlands within the Cowardin classification system. The other categories are:

Marine wetlands, exposed to the open ocean
Estuarine wetlands, partially enclosed by land and containing a mix of fresh and salt water
Riverine wetlands, associated with flowing water
Lacustrine wetlands, associated with a lake or other body of fresh water (Full article...)

More selected articles

General images

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

Image 1Blanket bog in Connemara, Ireland (from Bog)
Image 2A black alder swamp in Germany (from Swamp)
Image 3Sphagnum 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 4Many species of frogs live in wetlands, while others visit them each year to lay eggs. (from Wetland)
Image 5A 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 6Wicken Fen, England. Grasses in the foreground are typical of a fen. (from Fen)
Image 7Precipitation accumulates in many bogs, forming bog pools, such as Koitjärve bog in Estonia. (from Bog)
Image 8A small swamp in Padstow, New South Wales, Australia (from Swamp)
Image 9Wetlands contrast the hot, arid landscape around Middle Spring, Fish Springs National Wildlife Refuge, Utah. (from Wetland)
Image 10The Linnaistensuo Mire, a nature reserve swamp in Lahti, Finland. (from Swamp)
Image 11Humid wetland in Pennsylvania before a rain (from Wetland)
Image 12Difference between swamp and marsh (from Swamp)
Image 13Viru Bog in Lahemaa National Park, Estonia, which is rich in raised bogs (from Bog)
Image 14Bog with October morning mist in Mukri, Estonia (from Bog)
Image 15Aerial view of prairie potholes (from Marsh)
Image 16Carnivorous 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 17Many kinds of birds nest in marshes; this one is a yellow-headed blackbird. (from Marsh)
Image 18Vernal pools are ponded only during the wetter part of the year. (from Marsh)
Image 19Pantanal in Brazil (from Swamp)
Image 20Marshlands are often noted within wetlands, as seen here at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in New York City. (from Wetland)
Image 21Small extreme rich fen in southwestern Minnesota. The white flowers, Parnassia glauca, are a fen indicator species in Minnesota. (from Fen)
Image 22Many species of evergreen shrub are found in bogs, such as Labrador tea. (from Bog)
Image 23Peat bog and peat to dry, L'Isle-aux-Coudres, Quebec, Canada, 1976 (from Bog)
Image 24Sunrise at Viru Bog, Estonia (from Wetland)
Image 25Avaste Fen, Estonia. Sedges dominate the landscape, woody shrubs and trees are sparse. (from Fen)
Image 26Marsh in shallow water on a lakeshore (from Marsh)
Image 27Sphagnum with northern pitcher plants at Brown's Lake Bog, Ohio, US (from Bog)
Image 28A freshwater swamp in Florida, United States (from Swamp)
Image 29Snapping turtles are one of the many kinds of turtles found in wetlands. (from Wetland)
Image 30The Sitniki peat bog in Russia recultivated after industrial use (from Bog)
Image 31Fog 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 32Bud of water lotus (Nelumbo nucifera), an aquatic plant (from Wetland)
Image 33A bog in Ostfriesland (from Bog)
Image 34Sugar Fen, Norfolk (from Fen)
Image 35An 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 36Marshlands are often noted within wetlands, as seen here in the New Jersey Meadowlands at Lyndhurst, New Jersey, U.S. (from Marsh)
Image 37A wet meadow adjacent to Big Bear Lake, San Bernardino Mountains, California (from Marsh)
Image 38Aerial image of Carbajal Valley peat bogs, Tierra del Fuego Province, Argentina (from Bog)
Image 39Spaulding Fen, Wisconsin. (from Fen)
Image 40Kakerdaja Fen, Estonia (from Fen)
Image 41Inside a mangrove canopy, Salt Pan Creek, New South Wales (from Swamp)
Image 42A wetland in the Chesapeake Bay drainage basin in Mallows Bay Park in Charles County, Maryland, in the United States. (from Wetland)
Image 43Wetland at the Broadmoor Wildlife Sanctuary in Massachusetts, United States, in February (from Wetland)
Image 44A salt marsh in Scotland (from Marsh)
Image 45Bog-wood and boulders at the Stumpy Knowe near South Auchenmade, Ayrshire, Scotland (from Bog)
Image 46Swamp in southern Louisiana (from Swamp)
Image 47Marsh Arabs poling a mashoof (from Swamp)
Image 48White water lilies are a typical marsh plant in European areas of deeper water. (from Marsh)
Image 49Tourbière du Lac-à-la-Tortue (fr), ombrotrophic, Quebec, Canada (from Bog)
Image 50A marsh in Jyväskylä, Finland (from Marsh)
Image 51Dernford Fen, Cambridgeshire (from Fen)
Image 52The wetlands of Cape May, New Jersey, in the United States 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 53A bog in Lauhanvuori National Park, Isojoki, Finland (from Bog)

edit

Law

edit

Selected picture

Guelta

Credit: The original uploader was User:Taguelmoust at French Wikipedia.

Guelta.

More selected pictures

edit

Did you know...

... that wetlands can remove toxins from industrial discharges?

(Pictured left: Floating lilies.)

Other "Did you know" facts...

Read more...

edit

Related portals

edit

Organizations

edit

Topics

Pen & Earth

edit

Things you can do

Create articles: There are many articles that have yet to be started... Pick your favorite and start researching!
Find photos for articles: Many wetlands–related articles would be substantially better with the addition of one or more photographs. Feel free to take your own and upload them, or find ones with the appropriate licenses and upload them here!
Categorize articles: Figure out what categories to add to each article so that others can find them more easily.
Expand articles: There are many wetland stubs which could use extensive updates and development.
Find sources: Many of our articles are poorly sourced and could use much better citations.
Wikify: Add {{Portal|Wetlands}} to the See also sections of Wetlands-related articles.

edit

WikiProjects

edit

Wikimedia

The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:

Commons
Free media repository
Wikibooks
Free textbooks and manuals
Wikidata
Free knowledge base
Wikinews
Free-content news
Wikiquote
Collection of quotations
Wikisource
Free-content library
Wikispecies
Directory of species
Wikiversity
Free learning tools
Wikivoyage
Free travel guide
Wiktionary
Dictionary and thesaurus

Discover Wikipedia using portals

v t e 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
Category

Portal:Wetlands

Introduction

Selected article

General images

Law

Selected picture

Did you know...

Categories

Related portals

Organizations

Topics

Things you can do

WikiProjects

Wikimedia