Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
A wetland (aerial view) Wetland conservation is aimed at protecting and preserving areas of land including marshes, swamps, bogs, and fens that are covered by water seasonally or permanently due to a variety of threats from both natural and anthropogenic hazards. Some examples of these hazards include habitat loss, pollution, and invasive species.
Photo of Baugh Creek, Idaho, illustrates how a string of beaver ponds in a barren, post-wildfire landscape, serves as wildlife refugia and potentially as firebreaks. Beaver dam visible at bottom of image. Courtesy of Prof. Joe Wheaton. Beaver and their associated ponds and wetlands may be overlooked as effective wildfire-fighting tools. [71]
The Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act (CWPPRA) is a 1990 United States federal law that provides funds for wetland enhancement. [1] The law is implemented by federal and state agencies, focusing on restoration of lost wetlands of the Gulf Coast , as well as protecting the wetlands from future deterioration.
Freshwater marshes also assist with particle retention. Freshwater marshes have little to no movement in water, allowing for the sediment and particulates suspended in the water from erosion and overland flow to settle out of the water accumulating in the wetland. [16] Freshwater marshes can also support and provide services to humans.
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 ...
Areas of land that are wet by surface water or groundwater for long periods of time so that the animals and plants adapt to them for a part of their lifecycle are considered Wetlands. This includes areas that are inundated with fresh or saline water. Lagoons, lakes, rivers, estuaries, swamps, coral reefs and seagrass beds are examples of ...
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.
Example of land loss in coastal Louisiana between 1932 and 2011; detail of Port Fourchon area. Coastal erosion in Louisiana is the process of steady depletion of wetlands along the state's coastline in marshes, swamps, and barrier islands, particularly affecting the alluvial basin surrounding the mouth of the Mississippi River.