Pennsylvania Wetlands

1. Pennsylvania Wetlands Katherine Verbeke Pa Wetlands

2. Pennsylvania • 29 million acres • 407 000 acres are wetlands • 4 000 of those have been restored since 1990 • Various wildlife programs • To maintain and restore when necessary Katherine Verbeke Pa Wetlands

3. Three general types in Pa • Forested • Scrub – shrub wetlands • Emergent Wetlands Katherine Verbeke Pa Wetlands

4. Forested wetlands Katherine Verbeke Pa Wetlands

5. Scrub-shrub wetlands Katherine Verbeke Pa Wetlands

6. Emergent wetlands Katherine Verbeke Pa Wetlands

7. Forested wetlands • Dominant plants mature woody plants • Tall trees over 20 feet tall • Red and silver maples • Black gum • River birches • Green ashes • 220 000 acres Katherine Verbeke Pa Wetlands

8. Black gum tree Katherine Verbeke Pa Wetlands

9. River Birch Katherine Verbeke Pa Wetlands

10. Green Ash Katherine Verbeke Pa Wetlands

11. Scrub-shrub wetlands • Dominant plants • Scrub • Shrub • 139 000 acres Katherine Verbeke Pa Wetlands

12. Trees • less than 20 feet tall • Alders • willows Katherine Verbeke Pa Wetlands

13. Spicebushes Katherine Verbeke Pa Wetlands

14. High-bush blueberries Katherine Verbeke Pa Wetlands

15. Winterberries Katherine Verbeke Pa Wetlands

16. Swamp honeysuckle Katherine Verbeke Pa Wetlands

17. Chokecherry Katherine Verbeke Pa Wetlands

18. Emergent wetlands • 52 000 acres • Marshy areas • Plants are rooted in soil but • Emerge above water Katherine Verbeke Pa Wetlands

19. Emergent plants • Rushes • Sedges • Grasses Katherine Verbeke Pa Wetlands

20. Wetlands at work • Habitats • Food • Spawning grounds • Nurseries for aquatic life Katherine Verbeke Pa Wetlands

21. Habitat • Bacteria • Protists • Plants • Animals • Threatened and endangered Katherine Verbeke Pa Wetlands

22. Threatened • Those species that may become endangered • Bald Eagle Katherine Verbeke Pa Wetlands

23. Endangered • Those species that soon become extinct • Bog Turtle Katherine Verbeke Pa Wetlands

24. In the US • Wetlands make up only 5% • They are home to nearly 35% of the threatened and endangered species Katherine Verbeke Pa Wetlands

25. Pennsylvania • Many of the more than 500 plant species • Of concern i.e. threatened and endangered • Live in or near the wetlands Katherine Verbeke Pa Wetlands

26. Amphibians • 80% of the state’s amphibs live in and around wetlands • 25% of all the state’s 41 species of reptiles spend nearly all their lives • +120 species of birds live in, on or around the wetlands Katherine Verbeke Pa Wetlands

27. Food factories • High primary productivity rates • Plants – major organisms • Base of the wetland food web Katherine Verbeke Pa Wetlands

28. Food • Above the water line - eaten • Decomposing plants provide nutrients bacteria protists Fungi Invertebrates Katherine Verbeke Pa Wetlands

29. Food Chain • Higher order organisms • Eat the producers and the consumers Katherine Verbeke Pa Wetlands

30. Spawning grounds and Nurseries • 200 species of amphibians • All wild ducks • Geese • Swan • Bitterns • Herons Katherine Verbeke Pa Wetlands

31. Flood plains of larger rivers • Freshwater fishes Katherine Verbeke Pa Wetlands

32. Bullhead Katherine Verbeke Pa Wetlands

33. Northern pike Katherine Verbeke Pa Wetlands

34. Muskellunge Katherine Verbeke Pa Wetlands

35. Walleyes Katherine Verbeke Pa Wetlands

36. Bluegills Katherine Verbeke Pa Wetlands

37. Coastal wetlands • Shell fish and commercial game fish Katherine Verbeke Pa Wetlands

38. Salmon Katherine Verbeke Pa Wetlands

39. Flounder Katherine Verbeke Pa Wetlands

40. Striped bass Katherine Verbeke Pa Wetlands

41. Bluefish Katherine Verbeke Pa Wetlands

42. Menhaden Katherine Verbeke Pa Wetlands

43. Cycling nutrients • Plants drive the ecosystem • Make the food • Photosynthesis • Plants retain the food they make Katherine Verbeke Pa Wetlands

44. Oxygen • Used for respiration by heterotrophs Katherine Verbeke Pa Wetlands

45. Plants • Move nutrients • Phosphorous • Nitrogen Katherine Verbeke Pa Wetlands

46. Buffer zones • Riparian barriers • Function as a sponge • Absorb Excess runoff • Slowly release it back to the environment Katherine Verbeke Pa Wetlands

47. Benefits • Help reduce flood damage to crops • Help control rate and volume of runoff in urban areas Katherine Verbeke Pa Wetlands

48. Protect coastlines from erosion • Roots of all wetland plants hold soil • Plants absorb the action and force of waves • Break up the flow of streams and river currents • Buffer storm surges Katherine Verbeke Pa Wetlands

49. Prevents • Hurricane damage • Tropical storm damage • To roads, houses and other structures Katherine Verbeke Pa Wetlands

50. Pollution control • #1 pollutant in Pa (by volume) sediment • Wetlands slow the river • Sediment is deposited • Improves water quality for wildlife Katherine Verbeke Pa Wetlands