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The group consists of numerous unrelated plants that have convergently evolved. Sometimes, the widely distributed genus Rhizophora is referred to as the true mangroves. Pistia, a genus with one species that is native to tropical environments and has further extended its range as an introduced species. Phragmites is a genus of plants known as reeds.
Floating island La Rota in Posta Fibreno lake, Italy. Natural floating islands are composed of vegetation growing on a buoyant mat of plant roots or other organic detritus. In aquatic regions of Northwestern Europe, several hundred hectares or a couple thousand acres of floating meadows (German Schwingrasen, Dutch trilveen) have been preserved, which are partly used as agricultural land ...
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. Wetlands play a ...
The wetland status of 7,000 plants is determined upon information contained in a list compiled in the National Wetland Inventory undertaken by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and developed in cooperation with a federal inter-agency review panel (Reed, 1988). The National List was compiled in 1988 with subsequent revisions in 1996 and 1998.
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.
the most widespread of all wetland types in the world, representing 50 to 70% of global wetlands. They cover over 4 million square kilometres [1.5 million square miles] or 3% of the land and freshwater surface of the planet. In these ecosystems are found one third of the world's soil carbon and 10% of global freshwater resources.
Wetlands generally included swamps, marshes, bogs, and similar areas.' [20] For each of these definitions and others, regardless of the purpose, hydrology is emphasized (shallow waters, water-logged soils). The soil characteristics and the plants and animals controlled by the wetland hydrology are often additional components of the definitions ...
Wetlands are not only freshwater habitats and systems, as there are salt marshes and bogs that support different species. [7] Carolina Bays (also known as pocosins, meaning "swamp on a hill") are a unique form of wetland predominately found in the Carolinas, with a few being found outside of the Carolinas along the East Coast of the United ...