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The life forms of a wetland system includes its plants and animals and microbes (bacteria, fungi). The most important factor is the wetland's duration of flooding. [1] Other important factors include fertility and salinity of the water or soils.
Wetlands have decreased by as much as 50% since 1900 and in some parts of the world by 90%. [ 19 ] [ 20 ] Inland wetlands, freshwater marshes making up about 20-25% of all freshwater wetlands globally, [ 21 ] have been decreasing approximately 1.2% each year throughout the last century (since 1900).
The Wetlands Geodatabase and the Wetlands Mapper, as an Internet discovery portal, provide technological tools that allow the integration of large relational databases with spatial information and map-like displays. The information is made available to an array of federal, state, tribal, and local governments and the public.
The Countryside Regeneration Trust says loss of habitat puts wading birds in danger during winter.
White water lilies are a typical marsh plant in European areas of deeper water. Many kinds of birds nest in marshes; this one is a yellow-headed blackbird.. Marshes provide a habitat for many species of plants, animals, and insects that have adapted to living in flooded conditions or other environments. [1]
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.
Additionally, these plants provide a large habitat for many wetland species, a large number of which are endangered or threatened. Lastly, riparian plants shade the water from sunlight, reducing the heat stress on the water and aquatic life, while also providing nutrients in the form of organic matter. [6]
The Environmental Protection Agency defines wetlands as "those areas that are inundated or saturated by surface or groundwater at a frequency and duration water to support, and that under normal circumstances do support, a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions (e.g. swamps, bogs, fens, marshes, and estuaries)."