Institute of Water Supply and Environmental Protection Cracow University of Technology

1. Freshwater (inland) wetlands EwaSzalinska Krakow University of Technology, Krakow, Poland Institute of Water Supply and Environmental Protection Cracow University of Technology Krakow, ul. Warszawska 24, 31-155 Poland curriculumin natural environmental science, vol. 2, 2010

2. Outline: • What are wetlands? • Wetland classification • Types of inland wetlands • Wetlands: inland vs. coastal • Why we need inland wetlands • Case study: St. Clair wetlands

3. What are wetlands? “Areas of march, fen, peatland or water, whether natural or artificial, permanent or temporary, with water that is static of flowing, fresh, backish or salt, including areas of marine water the depth of which at low tide does not exceed six meters” Convention on Wetlands, Ramsar, Iran 1971 Source: http://www.ramsar.org

4. Wetland classification • Horizontal • marsh, swamp, bog, fen, etc • Hierarchical • hydrology – i.e. tidal and non-tidal, water permanence, directional flow of water • water chemistry – salinity, halinity, pH • vegetation – wet meadow, marsh, wooded swamp, shrub swamp • origin – natural, man-made • soil type, landform, size, etc. Source: Tiner 1999

5. Algonquin Park, ON, Canada Algonquin Park, ON, Canada Point Peele, ON, Canada Inland wetland types: • Marshes - herbaceous vegetation; open to sun; water level - centimeters to 1 meter; can periodically dry out; • Swamps – shady, woody plants, saturated soils or standing water; • Bogs - acidic water, spongy peat deposits, covered by a layer of sphagnum moss; receive water mostly from precipitation; • Fens - peat-forming wetlands, receiving nutrients from sources other than precipitation; Wheatley Park, ON, Canada Source: http://www.epa.gov/owow/wetlands; Photos: E. Szalinska

6. Wetlands: inland vs. coastal • Flood pattern – twice a day (coastal)/no changes - or seasonal (inland); • Succession – autogenic and allogenic (inland) / mangrove expansion (coastal) • Timescale – rapid changes (inland)/rarely static for significant period of time (coastal) • Climate changes – water level, temperature (inland/coastal), precipitation (inland) After: Dugan (ed.) 1993

7. Why we need inland wetlands? • Water storage – flood protection • Water filtration – improving water quality • Habitat for fish, wildlife and plants • Economic benefits – fishing, harvesting wetland-dependent species, peat • Recreation, education, research After: Dugan (ed.) 1993

8. Case study:St. Clair wetlands Source: http://earth.jsc.nasa.gov/sseop/EFS/printinfo.pl?PHOTO=STS068-232-22

9. The Great Lakes (North America) Huron-Erie Corridor Source: http://mschaut.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/great_lakes.jpg

10. Source: http://gis.glin.net/maps/ Huron-Erie Corridor • Lake St. Clair: • area - 1,115 km2 • average depth - 3.7 m • max depth - 8.3 m • average retention time - 9 days Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lake_st_clair_landsat.jpeg

11. St. Clair Delta formation: • pre-modern delta – 3,500-5,000 yrs. BC • modern delta – 3,500 yrs. BC until present • 7 active channels – average 11 m depth • “burrowing” delta formation • area – 80 km2 (36 km2 freshly emergent wetlands) Source: Thomas et al. 2006

12. Source: http://earth.jsc.nasa.gov/scripts/sseop/QuickView.pl?directory=ISD&ID=ISS002-377-26 • Changes in the land use pattern: • until 1800 – mostly swamps • intense draining and development after 1850 (loss of 5,250 ha of wetlands) • currently: agriculture and residential use St. Clair Flats Walpole Island • Remaining wetlands: • Chatham Flats (St. Clair National Wildlife Area) • St. Clair Delta (Walpole Island and St. Clair Flats) Chatham Flats

13. Ramsar site: 4CA016 St. Clair National Wildlife Area Source: http://www.michigandnr.com/publications/pdfs/huntingwildlifehabitat/sga/stclairflats.pdf

14. King rail (Rallus elegens) St. Clair wetland habitat and biodiversity Spiny softshell (Apalone spinifera) • Breeding habitat for wetland birds; • Habitat for more than 65 species of fish; • Numerous amphibian, reptile, and mammal species; • Vast array of plant species Rattle snake (Sisustrus catenatus) Least bittern (Ixobrychus exilis) Yellow lotus (Nelumbo lutea) Photos: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Digital Library System, http://images.fws.gov

15. St. Clair wetland wildlife habitat Canvasback (Aythya valisineria) Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) Canada goose (Branta canadiensis) Redhead (Aythya americana ) Northern shoveler (Anas clypeata ) Photos: Cornell Lab of Ornithology, http://www.birds.cornell.edu/

16. Lake St. Clair annual water levels 1918-1990 Purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) Mute swan (Cugnus olor) Source: http://www.glc.org/stclair/ Stressors to the St. Clair wetland ecosystem • Lake processes: long- and short-term water level fluctuations, waves, wind tides, ice scour; • Direct wetland loss and degradation; • Invasive plant and animal species; Photos: http://www.great-lakes.net/envt/flora-fauna/invasive

17. 3    3     3 Hg > SEL (2.0 mg g-1 dw) between SEL and LEL  < LEL (0.2 mg g-1 dw)                 3  3    3   3   3  3 3  3 20 20 10 10 0 0  Kilometers Kilometers 3  Source: http://www.glc.org/stclair/ 3  3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3  Source: Szalinska et al., 2007   3 3 3  Stressors to the St. Clair Delta wetland ecosystem • Risk of chemical and fuel spills

18. Stressors to the St. Clair Delta wetland ecosystem Source: GLIER 2005

19. References • Dugan (ed.) 1993. Wetlands in danger. A world conservation atlas. Oxford University Press. • GLIER 2005. Benthos and chemistry studies on the Detroit and St. Clair Rivers. Report Prepared by the Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research & Department of Biological Sciences, University of Windsor for the Great Lakes Sustainability Fund, Windsor, Canada. • Thomas et al. 2006. Formation of the St. Clair River Delta in the Laurentian Great Lakes system. J. Great Lakes Res. 32:738-748. • Tiner 1999. Wetland indicators. A guide to wetland identification, delineation, classification and mapping. Lewis Publishers. • Szalinska et al. 2007. Metals in the sediments of the Huron-Erie Corridor (North America): factors regulating distribution and mobilization. Lakes & Reservoirs: Research and Management, 12:217-236. • USACE 2005. St. Clair River and Lake St. Clair Comprehensive Management Plan, June 2004. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit District • http://earth.jsc.nasa.gov, Image Science and Analysis Laboratory, NASA-Johnson Space Center, "The Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth" • http://www.birds.cornell.edu/, Cornell Lab of Ornithology • http://www.epa.gov/owow/wetland • http://images.fws.gov, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Digital Library System • http://www.ramsar.org