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Wetlands |
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Overview: Wetland is easy to define; its name defines itself. A wetland is a combination of water and land (wet land)---an area covered with water that supports diverse animal and plant life. A wide variety of types of wetlands have been recognized, ranging from marshes to swamps to bogs. Wetlands provide habitats for many different kinds of wildlife and help to protect the earth’s biodiversity. In fact, one third of endangered and threatened species, like the bog turtle, live in wetlands (Campbell 4th ed). For people, wetlands offer unusual opportunities to observe and appreciate different kinds of plant and animal life. |
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Plant Life (from observation): *Wetland plants are also called hydrophytes (water plants). |
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Animal
Life (from observation): Birds-dippers, woodpecker, hawk, red-feathered birds, gray wagtail, mallards. Invertebrates and Insects-worms, larvae, mollusks, dragonflies, snails, spiders, grasshoppers, beetles, caterpillar, butterfly, millipede, skimmers, damselfly . Fishes-minnows Amphibians-Green frogs (Rana clamitans), turtles, salamanders Mammals-beavers, raccoons, rabbits |
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Ecological
Role: Ecologically, wetlands are among the richest of biomes. Although wetlands cover only about 6 percent of the earth’s land, their importance is much greater than their size indicates. Wetlands are thriving communities of plants and animals. They are among the best places to observe the different stages of life. In addition to the rich diversity of wildlife that is supported by wetlands, they also act as natural filters. The plants growing in wetlands absorb and retain many pollutants such as excess nitrogen from fertilizers and hence improve water quality by filtering pollutants. The wetlands also help to provide water-storage basins that reduce the intensity of flooding. |
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Remediation Processes (things we are doing to
preserve our wetland and maintain high survival rate): - Removing all floating moss where practical without damaging any of the wetland plants. The floating moss is believed to be several species of filamentous algae and is present in great quantities because of the nutrient surplus in the wetland. After the wetland matures, the nutrient load will decrease and the algae will die. But if we don’t remove as much of the algae as possible, it will create bad odors and deficit of the dissolved oxygen level in the water as a result of algae decomposition. Consequently, any faunal aquatic life would be adversely affected as a result of a dissolved oxygen deficit. - Avoiding fertilizer runoff into the wetland (from the track and football field). This is contributing to the nutrient surplus in the wetland. - Removing as many cattails as possible to keep them under control and prevent over domination. - Removing some but not all of the black willow saplings that are emerging in the wetland. - Removing Rag weeds to increase water flow. |
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Conclusion: In the past, humans have often regarded wetlands as wastelands, sources of mosquitoes, flies, and bad odors, and have destroyed many wetlands, mostly to provide land for new development. At Lorenzo de Zavala Middle School, we are proud to protect and preserve the wetland, which also serves as a valuable learning resource and an outdoor classroom for our students to learn, enjoy, and appreciate nature. |
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| Additional Resources | ||||||||||||||||||
| Wetlands International | U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Wetlands | |||||||||||||||||
| A Resource Site for Wetland Education from Ducks Unlimited | ||||||||||||||||||
