Watersheds

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Watersheds Wetlands
Lesson 1.4

• Wetlands
• Pennsylvania Wetlands
• Wetlands at Work
• Suburban Swamps

Chapter 1
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PA Academic Standards for Environment Ecology
4.1.10D

• Describe the multiple functions of wetlands.
• Lesson Objectives
• Students will analyze wetlands in terms of the
  type of soil and vegetation present in terms of
  their hydrology.
• Students will describe some of the functions of
  wetlands and explain how a wetland influences
  water quality, wildlife, and water retention.

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Wetlands

• Definition an area that contains unique types of
  soil, is home to plants adapted to a wet
  environment, and contains water all year or at
  certain times during the year

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Wetland Delineation

• Determined by 3 parameters
• Hydrology
• Soils
• Vegetation

• Hydrology must have standing water for 3 weeks
  during the growing season
• It is the weakest of the 3 parameters.meaning
  hardest to clarify

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2. Soils

• Take a soil sample and look for a mottled
  soil.contrasting colors

• OR a gleyed soil-develops when anaerobic
  conditions produce a reduction of iron or
  manganese.gray soil color

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3. Vegetation

• Look on National wetlands inventory list
• a. Obligate - occurs almost always in wetland
  - 99
• b. Facultative wetland - usually occur in
  wetland
• 67-99
• c. Facultative - Equally likely to occur in
  wetlands
• and nonwetlands

d. Facultative upland - usually occur in
non-wetland
occasionally in wetlands e. Obligate upland -
most of the time in nonwetland
gt 99 See handouts
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• Wetlands are often called many different names,
  each with a slightly different composition.
• Main types of wetlands include Bogs
• Swamps
• Marshes

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Bog

• Definition wetland in which soils consist
  predominantly of decomposed plant material called
  peat or muck.

• Mosses are the dominant plants.
• Other vegetation includes shrubs, some species
  of
• evergreens, water lilies, pitcher plants,
  cranberries, and
• blueberries.
• Bogs tend to be very acidic and contain little
  oxygen,
• since the water in the bog moves very little.
• Common organisms include frogs, turtles,
  insects, and
• certain birds.

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BOG
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Swamp

• Definition forested wetland in which trees and
  bushes are the dominant plants

• The dominant plants are trees and bushes.
• Swamps are classified according to the dominant
• tree in the wetland.
• There are two main types of swamps.
• Conifer swamps
• Hardwood swamps
• Common organisms include white-tailed deer,
• raccoons, herons, egrets, woodpeckers, snakes,
  
• frogs, and turtles.

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• Coniferous swamps are dominated by cedars, pines,
  spruces, and hemlock trees.
• Hardwood swamps are dominated by maples, willow,
  aspen, birch, elm, and oak trees.

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Marsh

• Definition wetland that generally forms at the
  mouth of a river or in areas where there is poor
  drainage

• Marsh soils are richer in nutrients and support
  
• vegetation such as grasses, sedges, bulrushes,
  cattails.
• Common organisms include beavers, frogs,
  turtles,
• raccoons, muskrats, opossums, birds, and
  insects.

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Marsh
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Pennsylvania Wetlands
Chapter 105 of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
code defines a wetland as Those areas that
are inundated or saturated by surface or
groundwater at a frequency and duration
sufficient to support a prevalence of vegetation
typically adapted for life in saturated soil
conditions

• Pennsylvania wetlands cover 407,000 acres of the
  total 29,000,000 acres of land.
• Almost 4,000 acres of additional wetlands have
  been restored since 1990.
• There are three general types of wetlands
  recognized in Pennsylvania
• Forested wetlands
• Scrub-shrub wetlands
• Emergent wetlands

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Forested Wetlands

• Definition areas where the dominant plant types
  include mature woody trees

• 220,000 acres (45) of Pennsylvania wetlands
  are of
• this type

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Examples Red Maple Silver Maple River
Birch Black Gum Green Ash
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Scrub-shrub Wetlands

• Definition wetlands whose dominant plants are
  scrub and shrubs as well as trees that are less
  than 20 feet tall, such as alders and willows

• Dominated by shrubs, small trees, and low-lying
  vegetation.
• 139,000 acres (28) of Pennsylvania wetlands are
  of this type.

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Examples Spice Bush, Swamp Honeysuckle,
High-bush blueberry
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Emergent Wetlands

• Definition marshy areas where plants are rooted
  in soil
• but emerge above water

• Dominated by rushes, grasses, and sedges.
• 52,000 acres (14) of Pennsylvania wetlands are
  of this type.

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Examples Sedges, Rushes, Wild Rice, Cattails
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Wetlands at Work

• Wetland have many roles. Wetlands provide
• Habitat
• Food
• Spawning grounds and nurseries
• Cycling of nutrients
• Buffer zones
• Pollution control

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Habitat

• Wetlands are home to a variety of species. These
  include bacteria, protists, plants, and animals.
• Wetlands are home to many threatened or
  endangered species.
• Wetland are home to nearly 35 of all threatened
  and endangered species in the United States.

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Wetland Habitat
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Food

• Wetlands are considered food factories because
  they have very high primary productivity rates.
• Plants, the base of all food chains, are the
  primary organisms responsible for this high
  productivity rate.
• Decomposing plants can also provide food for
  other organisms (like bacteria), which then
  provide food to wetland vertebrates.

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Spawning grounds and Nurseries

• Wetlands are ideal places for many organisms to
  lay eggs, care for their young, and provide safer
  habitats for some juveniles species.
• Some organisms leave rivers and enter
  floodplains, some organisms enter coastal
  wetlands, and some organisms leave open water
  lakes to spawn in shallower waters of nearby
  wetlands.

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Cycling Nutrients

• Wetlands cycle nutrients such as phosphorous,
  nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon dioxide through an
  ecosystem.
• Plants, via photosynthesis, play an active role
  in cycling these elements through the system.

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Nitrogen Cycle
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Carbon-Oxygen Cycle
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Buffer Zones

• Wetlands are important buffer zones because they
  function as natural sponges.
• Wetlands have the capacity to absorb excess
  runoff, store water, prevent flooding by
  retaining large amounts of water in its soils,
  and protect coastal regions.

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Buffer Zones

• Pennsylvania agriculture also benefits from these
  wetland characteristics.
• Wetlands reduce the likelihood of flood damage to
  crops due to excess runoff in developing regions.
• Wetlands also remove contaminants from upstream
  waters, preventing such runoff from mixing with
  sediments washed onto the floodplain.

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Without a vegetative buffer
With a vegetative buffer
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Pollution Control

• Wetlands play a vital role in removing unwanted
  contaminants from waterways.
• Pennsylvanias major pollutant (by volume) is
  sediment.
• Wetlands function to slow the velocity of the
  water, allowing particles suspending in the water
  to settle, improving the quality of water
  downstream.

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Suburban Wetlands

• Urbanization has disrupted and destroyed many
  wetlands directly associated with nearby
  waterways.
• The preservation of open spaces includes the
  preservation of urban wetlands, which include
  historic wetlands, as well as wetlands that
  resulted from poorly planned and engineered
  development.

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• Suburban wetlands provide the same important
  functions as do typical wetlands.
• Suburban wetlands buffer runoff from increased
  amounts of pavement and other impervious
  surfaces.
• Suburban wetlands aid in treating large volumes
  of wastewater produced by cities and towns.

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A huge suburban wetland project is being planned
to improve the quality of Shanghai's tap water
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• Lesson 1.4
• bog
• emergent wetlands
• forested wetlands
• heterotrophs
• marsh
• scrub-shrub wetlands
• swamp
• wetland