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A simplified definition of wetland is "an area of land that is usually saturated with water". [14] More precisely, wetlands are areas where "water covers the soil, or is present either at or near the surface of the soil all year or for varying periods of time during the year, including during the growing season". [15]
Wetlands exist on every continent, except Antarctica. [19] The water in wetlands is either freshwater, brackish or saltwater. [18] The main types of wetland are defined based on the dominant plants and the source of the water. For example, marshes are wetlands dominated by emergent herbaceous vegetation such as reeds, cattails and sedges.
The surface of the wetland is level with the water table. Water flows on the surface and through the subsurface of the wetland. The water table fluctuates. It may be at the surface of the wetland or a few centimeters above or below it. The wetland receives a significant amount of its water from mineral-rich groundwater or surface water. [10]
The wetland receives most of its water and nutrients from precipitation (ombrotrophic) rather than surface or groundwater (minerotrophic). The wetland is nutrient-poor (oligotrophic). The wetland is strongly acidic (bogs near coastal areas may be less acidic due to sea spray). Because all bogs have peat, they are a type of peatland.
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 .
The wetlands of Louisiana are water-saturated coastal and swamp regions of southern Louisiana, often called "Bayou". The Louisiana coastal zone stretches from the border of Texas to the Mississippi line [ 1 ] and comprises two wetland-dominated ecosystems, the Deltaic Plain of the Mississippi River (unit 1, 2, and 3) and the closely linked ...
Extensive moorland in the Desert of Wales. Moorland or moor is a type of habitat found in upland areas in temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands and montane grasslands and shrublands biomes, characterised by low-growing vegetation on acidic soils.
The degree of salinity in an estuary or delta is an important control upon the type of wetland (fresh, intermediate, or brackish), and the associated animal species. Dams built upstream may reduce spring flooding, and reduce sediment accretion, and may therefore lead to saltwater intrusion in coastal wetlands. [20]