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For more than 20 years, every February 2 the World Wetlands Day. This is to make the population aware of the need and obligation we have to conserve these precious ecosystems. Each year, a different slogan accompanies Wetland Day, thus highlighting the importance of wetlands for our future in sustainable livelihoods (year 2016), wetlands and water management (year 2013) or wetlands, biodiversity and climate change (2010), among other slogans. Source of innumerable natural riches, wetlands appear in places as remote as Margarita Island in Venezuela, or the Valley of the Lakes on the border between Mongolia, China and Russia; as well as on the island with the highest mountainous relief in the Mediterranean (Corsica) and the estuary of the Sierra Leone River.
Do not miss this interesting article by Green Ecologist in which you will discover everything about what are wetlands, their types and characteristics.
What are wetlands
Wetlands are all those ecosystems whose soils appear permanently or periodically flooded, both in freshwater environments and in those with a certain degree of salinity.
In this way, in wetland ecosystems both the natural wetlands, such as the extensive marshes, swamps and bogs, as well as those anthropic wetlands that were designed by humans and that artificially retain water, both permanently and temporarily, adapting to environmental conditions.
In the next sections we will see in more detail the different types of wetlands that exist as well as the main characteristics of these ecosystems of great natural wealth.
Types of wetlands
Wetlands are classified, first of all, according to the type of water they are composed of, thus existing freshwater wetlands and salty or salubrious wetlands. In turn, wetlands can be natural or artificial (created by humans). In this way, the different types of wetlands that exist are included in the following groups:
- River or riparian wetlands: They are natural and freshwater, formed by rivers, streams and waterfalls.
- Lacustrine: lakes and natural freshwater lagoons.
- Tropical palustres: includes springs, oases, swamp forests, floodplains, swamps, and permanent or seasonal swamps. All of them of natural origin and fresh water.
- Marine wetlands: These natural saltwater wetlands include all shallow marine environments, as well as rocky, sandy, and gravel beaches.
- Estuaries: naturally occurring estuarine salty waters sometimes form saltwater marshes and mangrove areas.
- Saltwater lake / marsh wetlands: includes naturally occurring brackish coastal lakes and lagoons.
- Artificial wetlands: These wetlands are the result of anthropic works carried out with the aim of storing or controlling a certain volume of water, such as reservoirs and dams.
Wetland characteristics
These are the main characteristics of wetlands:
- Wetlands are considered areas of transition or progressive change between aquatic and terrestrial systems, that is, mixed ecosystems. Here you can learn more about What is a mixed ecosystem.
- Constitute flood zones so they can be temporary or permanent.
- The waters of the wetlands can be stagnant waters, currents, fresh, brackish or salty water, including those marine areas whose depth at low tide is less than six meters.
- The boundary of any wetland is determined by the type of hydrophilic vegetation (with a good predisposition to water) that appears on the ground, so that by changing the type of vegetation for another non-hydrophilic one, we can distinguish how the wetland ecosystem ends and another ecosystem with an exclusively terrestrial environment begins.
- Wetlands are the ideal habitat for a great variety of speciesAmong which are the migratory birds that come to wetlands around the world to feed, as well as mammals, amphibians, reptiles, and of course, fish and insects, who choose the waters of the wetlands as a refuge.
Importance of wetlands
Wetlands are one of the most important ecosystems within the proper functioning of nature. And it is not for less, since they are responsible for hosting a incredible biodiversity species of birds, fish and other groups of animals, as well as a great variety of plant species characterized by their hydrophilic, water-dependent development.
On the other hand, in terms of their value within the anthropic world, wetlands serve on numerous occasions as areas for food production that require large amounts of water for cultivation, as is the case with rice. Other times they are used as areas to obtain raw materials, such as wood and reeds.
There are still more factors why it is vitally important wetland conservation, since they intervene directly in the regulation of the surface water cycle and aquifers, acting as controlling agents of possible floods; as well as participating in the control of erosion, the regulation of the nutrient cycle, the high biological productivity, the retention of carbon dioxide in its soils and, in general, the stability of the ecosystems.
If you want to read more articles similar to Wetlands: what are they, types and characteristics, we recommend that you enter our Ecosystems category.
Bibliography- Castellanos, C. A. (2005) Wetland ecosystems in Colombia. Industrial University of Santander.
- Rodríguez, H. (10/7/2016) Wetlands of the world seen from space. National Geographic Spain Magazine.
- Schnack, J. et al., (2000) Anthropic wetlands: their contribution to the conservation of biodiversity in the subtropical and pampasic domains of Argentina. Argentine Ecology Association, Austral Ecology Magazine, Volume 10, pp: 63-68.
