Portal:Wetlands
Wikipedia portal for content related to Wetlands / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
![]() | Portal maintenance status: (April 2020)
|
![1310](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/85/Mokrady_Srby.jpg)
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
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...)
General images
- 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 5Spaulding Fen, Wisconsin. (from Fen)
- 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 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 18Difference between swamp and marsh (from Swamp)
- Image 19Marsh in shallow water on a lakeshore (from Marsh)
- Image 21Kakerdaja Fen, Estonia (from Fen)
- Image 23Sunrise at Viru Bog, Estonia (from Wetland)
- 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 29Wetland at the Broadmoor Wildlife Sanctuary in Massachusetts, United States, in February (from Wetland)
- 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 33White water lilies are a typical marsh plant in European areas of deeper water. (from Marsh)
- Image 35Small extreme rich fen in southwestern Minnesota. The white flowers, Parnassia glauca, are a fen indicator species in Minnesota. (from Fen)
- Image 37Sugar Fen, Norfolk (from Fen)
- 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 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 52Wetlands contrast the hot, arid landscape around Middle Spring, Fish Springs National Wildlife Refuge, Utah. (from Wetland)
Law
Selected picture
Did you know...
... that the Sudd swamp is one of the world's largest wetlands?
(Pictured left: Fishing in Sudd wetland.) |
Other "Did you know" facts... | Read more... |
Categories
Related portals
Organizations
- America's Wetland Foundation
- Birds Korea
- Delta Waterfowl Foundation
- Ducks Unlimited
- Foundation for Ecological Security
- Irish Peatland Conservation Council
- National Wetlands Coalition
- Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership
- Union Sportsmen's Alliance
- Wetlands International
- Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust
Topics
![Pen & Earth](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5d/Crystal_Clear_app_wp.png/48px-Crystal_Clear_app_wp.png)
- Acrotelm
- Aquatic ecosystem
- Aquatic plants
- Atchafalaya Basin
- Backswamp
- Bayou
- Beach meadow
- Blackwater river
- Blanket bog
- Bog
- Bog bodies
- Bog butter
- Bog garden
- Bog iron
- Bog snorkelling
- Bog-wood
- Brackish marsh
- Callows
- Carr (landform)
- Cataract bog
- Cienega
- Coniferous swamp
- Converted wetland
- Dambo
- Drainage basin
- Drought refuge
- Estuary
- Everglades
- Fen
- Fen-meadow
- Flark
- Flooded grasslands and savannas
- Flood-meadow
- Floodplain
- Freshwater swamp forest
- Grass valley
- Guelta
- Halosere
- High Fens
- High marsh
- Hamuns
- Hydric soil
- Hydrology
- Hydrosere
- Igapó
- Ings
- Integrated constructed wetland
- Interdunal wetland
- Intertidal wetland
- Kettle (landform)
- Lagoon
- Lake ecosystem
- Limnology
- List of bogs
- List of fen plants
- Low marsh
- Meadowview Biological Research Station
- Marsh
- Marsh gas
- Mere
- Mire
- Misse
- Moorland
- Muck
- Mudflat
- Muskeg
- Myristica swamp
- Oasis
- Ombrotrophic
- Paludification
- Palustrine wetland
- Pantanal
- Peat
- Peat swamp forest
- Pond
- Pothole
- Prairie Pothole Region
- Ramsar site
- Reed bed
- Restoration of the Everglades
- Riparian zone
- River delta
- River ecosystem
- Salt marsh
- Salt marsh dieback
- Salt marsh die-off
- Salt pannes and pools
- Shrub swamp
- Slough (hydrology)
- Sphagnum
- String bog
- Sudd
- Swale
- Swamp
- Tropical peat
- Várzea forest
- Vernal pool
- Water stagnation
- Wetland classification
- Wetland conservation
- Wetland indicator status
- Wetland methane emissions
- Wetlands International
- Wetlands
- Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust
- Will-o'-the-wisp
- Yaéré
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
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