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These physical environments may include rivers, lakes, streams, ponds, reservoirs, or wetlands. [1] Knowledge from this discipline is also widely used in industrial processes to make use of biological processes involved with sewage treatment [2] and water purification. Water presence and flow is an essential aspect to species distribution and ...
The beaver is a keystone species, increasing biodiversity in its territory through creation of ponds and wetlands. [1] [2] As wetlands are formed and riparian habitats enlarged, aquatic plants colonize newly available watery habitat. Insect, invertebrate, fish, mammal, and bird diversities are also expanded. [3]
Wetlands exist on every continent, except Antarctica. [19] The water in wetlands is either freshwater, brackish or saltwater. [18] The main types of wetland are defined based on the dominant plants and the source of the water. For example, marshes are wetlands dominated by emergent herbaceous vegetation such as reeds, cattails and sedges.
Wetlands can be part of the lentic system, as they form naturally along most lake shores, the width of the wetland and littoral zone being dependent upon the slope of the shoreline and the amount of natural change in water levels, within and among years. Often dead trees accumulate in this zone, either from windfalls on the shore or logs ...
Wetland vary widely in their salinity levels, climate zones, and surrounding geography and play a crucial role in maintaining biodiversity, ecosystem services, and support human communities. [1] Wetlands cover at least six percent of the Earth and have become a focal issue for conservation due to the ecosystem services they provide.
A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor processes taking place, especially in the soils. [14]
Some wetlands are a significant source of methane emissions [6] [7] and some are also emitters of nitrous oxide. [8] [9] Nitrous oxide is a greenhouse gas with a global warming potential 300 times that of carbon dioxide and is the dominant ozone-depleting substance emitted in the 21st century. [10] Wetlands can also act as a sink for greenhouse ...
Invasive species adversely affect habitats and bioregions, causing ecological, environmental, and/or economic damage. The term can also be used for native species that become harmful to their native environment after human alterations to its food web. Since the 20th century, invasive species have become serious economic, social, and ...