What is a Wetland?

2. What is a Wetland? • A wetland is an area of land whose soil is saturated with water either permanently or seasonally.

3. Characteristicsof a Wetland • Wetlands vary widely due to local and regional differences in: • Topography • Hydrology • Vegetation • and other factors, including human disturbance. • Wetlands can be divided into two main classes: tidal and non-tidal areas.

4. Wetland Topography

5. Where are Wetlands Located? • Wetlands are found on every continent except Antarctica • One of the world's largest natural wetlands is the Patanal , which straddles Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay in South America.

7. Climate • Many of the world's wetlands are in temperate zones (midway between the North or South Pole and the equator) • Amount of rainfall a wetland receives varies widely according to its location

8. What does a Wetland Do? • water purification systems • flood control • shoreline stability • reservoirs of biodiversity.

9. Ecosystem Stress • Water Scarcity • Endangered species • Imbalance in sediment load and nutrient filtration • Disruption of breeding grounds

10. Natural or Not.. • Wetlands may be converted for agriculture or development or constructed as a water management tool as in the recent developing field of Water Sensitive Urban Design

11. Agriculture • Concerns are developing over farm fishing, a practice especially popular within Asia and the South Pacific and its influence on many small island developing states

12. Human ImpactEncroachment • Drainage • Development • Over-grazing • Mining • Unsustainable water use

13. Wetland Plants

14. Wetland Animals

15. http://drake.marin.k12.ca.us/stuwork/rockwater/Wetlands%202/Animals%20and%20plants%20of%20the%20Wetlands.htmlhttp://drake.marin.k12.ca.us/stuwork/rockwater/Wetlands%202/Animals%20and%20plants%20of%20the%20Wetlands.html http://www.defenders.org/wildlife_and_habitat/habitat/wetlands.php http://edtech.kennesaw.edu/web/wetlands.html