Portal:Wetlands

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.

Selected article

15th -16th century bog butter found near Enniskillen, County Fermanagh

"Bog butter" refers to an ancient waxy substance found buried in peat bogs, particularly in Great Britain and in Ireland. Likely an old method of making and preserving butter, some tested lumps of bog butter were made of dairy products while others were meat-based.

Bog butter is found buried inside some sort of wooden container, such as buckets, kegs, barrels, dishes and butter churns. It is of animal origin, and is also known as butyrellite. Until 2003 scientists and archaeologists were not quite sure of the origin of bog butter. Scientists working at the University of Bristol discovered that some samples of the "butter" were of adipose/tallow origin while others were of dairy origin.

In Scotland, the practice of burying bog butter dates back to at least the 2nd or 3rd century. Until recently, Ireland's oldest recorded find of bog butter was a carved hanging bowl dating back to the 6th or 7th century AD. On 28 April 2011, there were press reports of a find of approximately 50 kilograms (110 lb) of bog butter in Tullamore, County Offaly, thought to date back about five millennia. Found in a carved wooden vessel 0.3 metres (0.98 ft) in diameter and 0.6 metres (2.0 ft) in height, it was buried at a depth of 2.3 metres (7.5 ft), and still bore a faint smell of dairy. (Full article...)

More selected articles

General images

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

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

Law

Selected picture

Corduroy road

Credit: User:Millsy

A Komatsu PC 220 LC placing logs for a corduroy road.

Did you know...

Related portals

Organizations

Topics

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.

WikiProjects

WikiProject Birds
WikiProject Fishes
WikiProject Forestry
WikiProject Ecology
WikiProject Ecoregions
WikiProject Environment
WikiProject Plants
WikiProject Protected Areas
WikiProject Soil
WikiProject Water

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

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

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