Critical habitats

Scientific American, 1994

“Wetlands”

“constant change makes wetlands ecologically rich; they are often as diverse as rain forests.”

“Some wetlands even perform a global function.  The Northern peat lands of Canada, Alaska, and Eurasia in particular; may help moderate climate change by serving as a sink for the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.”

Wetlands also have commercial and utilitarian functions.  They are sources of lucrative harvests of wild rice, fur bearing animals, fish and shellfish.

“matures kidneys” 

I.E. the presence and extensive area of wetlands may reduce organic pollution as they operate as flood water control basins.

wetlands are rapidly disappearing

“Between 1950s and 1970s more than nine million  acres- “were wiped out”

California and Ohio… retain only 10 percent of their original expanse

Globally- “6 percent of all land is currently wetland”

The complex dynamics of wetlands complicate efforts to create policies for preserving them.

All these intricate ecosystems

from

• Marshes
• Bogs and
• Swamps and
  
• Vernal pools
  
• Playa lakes and
• Prairie potholes

are among the classification of landforms called "wetlands."

“wetlands are shallow-water systems, or areas where water is at or near the surface for sometime”

hydrophilic plants or organisms and hydric soils

salt marshes and mangrove swamps, permafrost

“fluctuating water levels are central to all of them.

“Water rises or falls in accordance with tides precipitations or runoff; the activities of humans and other animals can also determine water levels.”

Even when levels fluctuate dramatically, these systems can adjust so that they sustain little permanent damage.

This anomalous feature of wetlands- the way that short-term destruction ensures long-term gain – is poorly understood by the general public

The flooding along the Mississippi, Missouri, and other rivers last summer was especially severe because wetlands had been destroyed as people built on the.   These ecosystems could no longer serve to absorb flood waters.

Habitat of both- terrestrial and aquatic

“plants, animals, and microbes are constantly adapting and changing.”

“immense biodiversity of wetlands.”

“Wetlands essentially borrow species from both aquatic and terrestrial realms”

shifts in water levels serve to trigger nesting by wood storks in Fl and breeding by ducks in prairie potholes.”

“wetlands can serve as reproductive or feeding sites for some species only if they are connected with other waterways.”

“The wetlands then cleanse these waters by retaining sediments as well as phosphorus and other chemicals.  Pollutants such as nitrogen can be turned into harmless gases by the aerobic and anaerobic bacteria found there.”

 

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