A marsh is a wetland dominated by herbs rather than woody plant species. Marshes can often be found on the banks of lakes and rivers, where they form a transition between aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. They are often dominated by grass, rush or reeds. If woody plants present they tend to grow low shrubs. This form of vegetation distinguishes swamps from other wetland types such as swamps, which are dominated by trees, and mires, which are wetlands that have collected acidic peat deposits.
Video Marsh
Basic information
Swamp provides habitat for many species of plants, animals and insects that have adapted to live in flood conditions. Plants should be able to survive in wet mud with low oxygen levels. Many of these plants have aerenchyma, a channel inside the stem that allows air to move from the leaf to the rooting zone. Swamp plants also tend to have rhizomes for underground storage and reproduction. Common examples include cattails, sedges, papyrus and sawgrass. Aquatic animals, from fish to salamanders, can generally live with low amounts of oxygen in the water. Some can get oxygen from the air instead, while others can live indefinitely in low oxygen conditions. Marshes provides habitat for many types of invertebrates, fish, amphibians, waterfowl, and water mammals. Marshes has a very high biological production rate, some of the highest in the world, and therefore important in supporting fisheries. Marshes also improves water quality by acting as a sink to filter out pollutants and sediment from the water flowing through it. Marshes (and other wetlands) are able to absorb water during periods of heavy rain and slowly release it to waterways and thereby reduce the magnitude of floods. The pH in the swamp tends to be neutral to the base, compared to the swamp, where peat accumulates in more acidic conditions.
Maps Marsh
Types of swamp
Grasses differ depending on location and salinity. Both of these factors greatly affect the range and extent of life of animals and plants that can survive and reproduce in this environment. The three main types of swamps are salt marshes, freshwater tidal swamps, and freshwater swamps. All three can be found all over the world and each contains a different set of organisms.
Salt swamp
Saltwater swamps are found throughout the world in the mid to high latitudes, wherever there is a part of the protected coastline. They are close enough to the coastline that tidal movements affect them, and, sporadically, they are covered by water. They develop where the rate of sediment buildup is greater than the rate at which soil levels sink. The salty swamps are dominated by specially adapted rooted vegetation, especially salt-tolerant grasses.
Salted swamps are most commonly found in lagoons, river estuaries, and on sheltered sides of shingles or sandspit. The currents there carry fine particles to the deserted side and calm sediments begin to form. These locations allow swamps to absorb excess nutrients from the water that flows through them before it reaches the oceans and estuaries. The marsh is slowly declining. The development of coastal and urban sprawl has resulted in significant loss of this important habitat.
Swamps of freshwater tidal
Although considered to be a freshwater swamp, this form of swamp is affected by sea tides. However, without salinity pressures working on its saltwater partners, the diversity of plants and animals that live in and use tidal swamps is much higher than in salt marshes. The most serious threat to this swamp form is the increasing size and pollution of the surrounding towns.
Freshwater swamp
A very large range in both geographic size and location, freshwater swamps form the most common form of wetlands in North America. They are also the most diverse of the three types of swamps. Some examples of types of freshwater swamps in North America are:
Wet grassland
Wet grassland occurs in areas such as shallow lake basins, lowlands, and soils between shallow swamps and highlands. They also occur on the banks of lakes and large rivers. Wet grasslands often have very high plant diversity and high seed density. They are often flooded but often dry in the summer.
Vernal pools
The immortal pond is a kind of marsh that is only found seasonally in shallow basins on land. They can be covered in shallow water, but in summer and autumn, they can be completely dry. In western North America, vernal pools tend to form in open grasslands, whereas in the east they often occur in forest landscapes. Further south, vernal pools are formed in pine savanna and flatwoods. Many species of amphibians rely on vernal pools for spring breeding; This pool provides a habitat free of fish that feed on eggs and young amphibians. An example is the endangered gopher frog ( Rana sevosa ). Similar temporary ponds occur in other ecosystems of the world, where they may have local names. However, the term vernal pool can be applied to all temporary pond ecosystems.
Lake Playa
Lake Playa is a shallow freshwater swamp that occurs in the southern highlands of the United States. Like vernal pools, they are only present at certain times of the year and generally have a circular shape. As the playa dries during the summer, striking plant zonation develops along the coastline.
The hole in the meadow
Prairie pits are found in the northern part of North America as the Prairie Pothole Area. This landscape was once covered by glaciers, and as a result shallow depression is formed in large quantities. This depression is filled with water in the spring. They provide important breeding habitats for many species of waterfowl. Some pools only occur seasonally while others store enough water to be present throughout the year.
River wetland
Many types of swamps occur along the edges of large rivers. Different types are produced by factors such as water levels, nutrients, ice scour, and waves.
Recovery
Some areas of the world have lost 90% of their wetlands, including swamps. They have been dried to make farmland or filled to accommodate urban sprawl. Recovery is the process of restoring the marsh to the landscape to replace lost in the past. Restoration can be done on a large scale, such as by allowing rivers to flood naturally in the spring, or on a small scale by returning the wetlands to the urban landscape.
See also
- Aquatic plants
- Bayou
- Biodiversity Action Plan
- Mire
- Bog
- Fen
- freshwater swamp
- Mangrove
- Paludikultura
References
External links
- Marshes from Lowcountry (South Carolina) - Beaufort County Library
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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