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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.
Wetlands are among the most productive ecosystems in the world, comparable to rain forests and coral reefs and they can be home to a variety of species of microbes, plants, insects, amphibians ...
Natural hazards are excluded as a cause; however human activities can indirectly affect phenomena such as floods and bush fires. This is considered to be an important topic of the 21st century due to the implications land degradation has upon agronomic productivity, the environment, and its effects on food security. [75]
There are a number of government agencies in the United States that are in some way concerned with the protection of wetlands. The top five are the Army Corps of Engineers (ACoE), Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). [5]
Wetland habitats contribute to environmental health and biodiversity. [60] Wetlands are a nonrenewable resource on a human timescale and in some environments cannot ever be renewed. [61] Recent studies indicate that global loss of wetlands could be as high as 87% since 1700 AD, with 64% of wetland loss occurring since 1900. [61]
BAKU (Reuters) -The world's warming tropical wetlands are releasing more methane than ever before, research shows — an alarming sign that the world's climate goals are slipping further out of reach.
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 .
A simplified definition of wetland is "an area of land that is usually saturated with water". [14] More precisely, wetlands are areas where "water covers the soil, or is present either at or near the surface of the soil all year or for varying periods of time during the year, including during the growing season". [15]