Wetland

Wetland, or “an area of land either covered by water or saturated with water,” is “neither totally dry land nor totally underwear; they have characteristics of both” [1]. A type of wetland, a marsh, is visibly identifiable by the “mainly herbaceous species” that populate it, such as the thin, emergent or floating vegetation that will appear to be stranded within the water [2]. These “hydrophyte” plants are “uniquely adapted to their watery (hydric) soil” [1]. A variety of specific types of vegetation can also help us identify wetland. Examples include “cypress knees in more temperate climates” and “tiny water plants called duckweed forming a green cover on the surface” [1].

Another feature we can use to discriminate wetland is how clear the water is. Wetland is particularly still, opaque, and consistent in the case of most saltwater marshes, but some differ in that an “algal mat” will form on the surface of the water, making it cloudy and causing reflections to be blurred, which, again, helps us identify that the waterbody should be labeled as a wetland. Near mangroves and in swamps, things are different. Because mangroves are common in saltwater swamps “found along tropical coastlines” with ”bare flats of mud or sand thinly covered by seawater during high tides,” the flats are highly visible even when covered by water [1].

References

[1] National Geographic Society. (2012, September 12). Wetland. Retrieved (2021, July 9), from https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/wetland/

[2] Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust Limited. (n.d.) Wetland habitats. Retrieved (2021, July 9), from https://www.wwt.org.uk/discover-wetlands/wetlands/wetland-habitats/#:~:text=Technically%2C%20wetlands%20are%20unique%20ecosystems,over%20time%20into%20different%20forms