Wetlands

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Wetlands

• PA State Standard for Environment Ecology
• 4.1.10.D E

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Wetlands

• An area that contains unique types of soil
• Home to plants adapted to the wet environment
• Contains water all year or at certain times of
  the year.

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Common names for wetlands

• A. Bog B. Swamps C. Marshes

A
C
B
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Bog

• A wetland in which soils consist of decomposed
  plant material. (peat/muck)
• Dominant plants are the mosses
• Other plants include shrubs, evergreens, water
  lilies, cranberries, and blueberries

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Bog

• Very acidic (low pH), little O2 due the very
  little movement of water in or out.
• Abundance of frogs, turtles, insects, some birds
  (usually no fish)

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Swamp

• Forested wetland
• Dominated by trees brushes
• Soil drains slowly rich in nutrients

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Swamp

• Classified depending on dominant tree type
• Conifer Swamps ex cedar, pines
• Hardwood Swamps ex. Maples, willows
• Deer, raccoons, herons, egrets, woodpeckers,
  snakes,frogs, turtles
• Few fish

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Marshes

• Forms at the mouth of a river or in areas where
  theres poor drainage
• Rich in nutrients
• Dominated by grasses, sedges, bulrushes, cattails
• Beavers, frogs, turtles, raccoons, muskrats,
  birds, insects

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PA wetlands Chapter 105 of Commonwealth of PA
code

• Those areas that are inundated or saturated by
  surface or groundwater at a frequency and
  duration sufficient to support, and that under
  normal circumstances do support, a prevalence of
  vegetation typically adapted for life in
  saturated soil conditions
• Are protected by the law.

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There are 29 million acres of land area in PA.

• 407,000 acres are classified as wetlands.
• Bonus
• What percentage is that of the whole?
• Over 4,000 have been restored since 1990.

407,000/29,000,000 100 ?
1.4
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PAs classification of wetlands

• Forested
• Mature woody trees over 20 feet tall.
• Most abundant wetland in PA
• 220,000 acres
• Red silver maples, green ash, black gums, river
  birches
• Bonus - What percentage is that of the whole?

220,000/407,000 100 ?
54
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PAs classification of wetlands

• Scrub/shrub
• Trees less than 20 ft tall,
• 2nd most abundant wetland in PA.
• Alders, willows
• 139,000 acres
• Bonus - What percentage is that of the whole?

34
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PAs classification of wetlands

• Emergent
• Marshy areas plants rooted in soil but emerge
  above water
• - 52,000 acres
• Rushes, grasses, sedges
• Bonus - What percentage is that of the whole?

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Importance of Wetlands.

• In the past, wetlands were mostly considered to
  be wastelands.  As the United States was settled
  and people moved west, swamps and marshes were
  obstructions along the way.
• Many were drained to be replaced by farmland,
  railroads and road construction. 

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Importance of Wetlands.

• In recent decades many people have come to
  recognize the values of wetlands.
• No longer the forgotten stepchild of our
  environment, some scientists call them natures
  kidneys because of the natural cleansing
  functions they perform. 

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Importance of Wetlands.

• They provide rich habitat for a diverse range of
  plant and animal species
• Protection from flooding and erosion.
• Are also important to the nutrient cycle.  

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Functions of wetlands

• Habitat
• Food factories
• Spawning grounds nurseries
• Cycling of nutrients
• Buffer zones
• Pollution control

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Habitat

• Home to bacteria, protists, plants and animals,
  including many threatened and endangered species
• 35 of threatened and endangered species of the
  US
• 500 of PAs concerned plants
• 80 of PAs amphibians
• 25 of all PAs reptiles
• gt120 species of birds

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Food factories

• High productivity rates due to large amount of
  plants

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Food factories

• High productivity rates due to large amount of
  plants
• Food sources
• Plants above the water
• Decomposing plants below the water
• These organisms that eat the plants provide food
  for all of the other organisms in the chain

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Spawning grounds and nurseries

• Amphibians, ducks, geese, swans, bitterns, and
  herons reproduce in wetlands
• Large fish like walleye and bluegills that live
  in open water spawn in shallow water wetlands

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Cycling nutrients

• Plants drive this ecosystem through
  photosynthesis
• Use CO2 and solar energy and convert it into O2
  and food.
• Autotrophs Heterotrophs

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Buffer Zones

• Act as natural sponges to absorb excess runoff
  and slowly release it back into the environment
• Store and slow water
• Reduces flooding, runoff, and erosion

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Pollution Control

• Sediment is the primary water pollutant in PA
• By slowing water flow, it reduces sediment by
  allowing it to settle out of the water.
• Prevent air pollution
• Plants store carbon rather than releasing it into
  the air

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Loss of open space due to development causes
negative effects

• Reduce recreational areas
• Less attractive to business
• Reduce air and water quality
• Increase flooding due to less vegetation and more
  concrete

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Benefits of preserving wetlands

• Improves air and water quality. Wetland plants
  improve air quality by removing harmful gases and
  contributing oxygen. They improve water quality
  by filtering out harmful substances from the
  water.
• Provide habitat for wildlife
• Lessen the chances and effects of flooding

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Urban wetlands as a type of open space.

• May be the remnants of streams and rivers left
  after development
• Sometimes they result from planned or poorly
  planned development
• Ex drainage ditches and retention ponds.
• Provide the following services
• Habitats for plants and animals
• Buffer runoff
• Trap and filter pollutants like iron and lead
• Treat wastewater

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Wetlands vs. Development

• No net loss.
• Regulation for development that stopped the loss
  of wetland acreage.
• If a wetland is destroyed, a new one needs to be
  made to compensate.

• Net gain
• The idea of restoring damaged wetlands and
  establishing new wetlands.

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Factors that affect wetlands and watersheds

• The major factor affecting US wetlands are human
  activities
• Agriculture
• Urbanization construction
• Mining
• Industry
• Waste disposal

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Effects of Agriculture

• Agricultural practices can disrupt or even
  destroy a wetland in different ways.
• When food/resources are harvested.
• Building drainage and irrigation ditches that
  divert water away.
• Build-up of pesticides, fertilizers, nutrients,
  pathogens, and salts in wetland soils due to
  runoff.
• Runoff of livestock waste and soil from erosion.

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Urbanization and construction

• Runoff carries many pollutants (sediments,
  wastes, pesticides, salts, heavy metals) from
  urban areas and construction sites.
• Changing the natural flow of water decreasing the
  buffering ability of the wetland because it
  diverts the water away.

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Mining

• Especially important in PA.
• Acid drainage from both active and abandoned
  mines lowers the pH of wetlands which causes
  heavy metals to precipitate out.
• Wetlands can filter out some of the pollutants
  but has limits.

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Industry

• New construction of office buildings, factories,
  and processing plants reduce wetland acreage
• Both water intake and release of too much water
  can cause habitat loss or biodiversity loss. (ex.
  thermal pollution leads to algae blooms)

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Waste disposal

• Another by-product of urbanization.
• Solid waste at landfills leaking into wetlands.
  (most landfills are within a mile or less of
  wetlands)
• Sludge and wastewater treatment effluent are
  sometime introduced to waterways and wetlands.
• They are rich in nitrogen and phosphorus which
  leads to algal blooms.

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PAs Stream ReLeaf Program

• A program launched in 1997 with several
  objectives
• Restore streamside buffers on private and public
  land.
• Conserving streamside buffers to protect and
  improve forest diversity.
• Educate the public about the importance of
  wetlands.
• Develop activities to raise awareness of wetlands.

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Natural Events that affect Wetlands.

• Floods can have both a positive and negative
  effect on a wetland.
• Erosion and sediment deposition can change the
  physical conditions of a wetland.
• Drought reduces the volume of water in a wetland.
• Fires can have positive and negative effects.
• Global Climate Change changes in climate affect
  the abundance of water. (too cold decrease/too
  warm increase)