Ch 9 Aquatic Environments

1. Ch 9 Aquatic Environments

2. 9.1 Wetlands • Include swamps, salt marshes, bogs • Found in transitional zones – between well drained uplands and permanently flooded areas • Areas can be intermittently flooded or where the water table is near the surface • Under current law –a wetland cannot be drained, farmed or built on

4. Classification • Cowardian Classification System – used to classify wetlands, est. in 1979 by USFWS • Marine System – include open ocean overlying the continental shelf and associated coastlines. • Subject to waves and currents of the open ocean • Salty water • Coral reefs, rocky shoreline cliffs, sandy shores

5. Estuarine System - usually found at the mouth of rivers where they meet the ocean • Tidal salt marsh, mangrove swamps • Protected from high energy waves but influenced by tides • Salt water, but not as concentrated • Tidal Salt Marsh – near the mouth of a river, in bays, coastal plains, lagoons, or behind barrier islands • Sediments accumulate allowing for the growth of rooted plants • Organisms that live here need to be tolerant of salt water and being exposed for periods of time, also extreme changes in temperatures • Plants – salt –tolerant grasses, rushes, mud algae • Tidal creeks provide passages, spawning grounds, food, and shelter for fish and other marine organisms • Most in US are found along Atlantic coast, Gulf of Mexico, and Alaska’s coastline

7. Mangrove Swamps – named after the dominant vegetation, mangrove trees • A forested wetland • Commonly found along coasts of tropical and subtropical areas • In US only in southern FL and Puerto Rico

8. Riverine Systems – Associated with rivers and streams • Where streams originate or where a channel departs from a freshwater lake or pond • Ends where it meets saltwater • Riparian Zone – a common term used to define the strip of land on either side of a river or stream • Can include a riparian wetland • Has distinct soil, vegetative, and hydrologic characteristics • Considered an ectone – a transitional area • High species diversity, species density, and high productivity • Animals use for refuge, food, and travel

10. Lacustrine System- associated with lakes and large ponds • Found in topographical depressions • Can be formed from damming a river or stream

11. Paulstrine System - include bogs, fens, freshwater marshes, wet meadows, swamps, pocosins, and small shallow ponds • Dominated by vegetation and bound by upland habitat or another aquatic system • Water is less than 2m • Bogs and Fens • Major types of peatlands, found in colder northern, humid regions • Acid loving plants • Fens are a stage in the formation of a bog • Peat – a generic term used to describe organic soils • Freshwater Marshes – Found extensively through NA • In depressions caused by glaciers, around Great Lakes, Everglades in FL • Plants are mostly nonwoody, water loving plants called hydrophytes • Grasses, reeds, cattails, sedges, rushes, floating plants • Generally have shallow water and shallow peat formation

14. Freshwater Swamp • Occur along Mississippi flood-plain and Atlantic coastal plain of the SE US • Support woody vegetation; cypress, gum, tupelo trees • Have roots adapted for anaerobic conditions • Remain flooded for all or most of the year • Can occur in various settings • Isolated, water filled depressions filled by rainwater • Edges of lakes fed by lake overflow and runoff • Broad floodplains permanently flooded by rivers • Pocosin – shrub-scrub wetland located on flat ground between stream systems

15. Function and Values • Wetlands cover 6% of land surface • Hydrologic Process • Influence water flow by slowing runoff • Store water and release it slowly – reducing flooding • Stabilize stream banks, lake shores and coastlines • Allow recharge and discharge of ground water • Water Quality Improvement • Remove sediment, inorganic, and organic nutrients, and toxic materials • Physically trap as well as chemically change

16. Wildlife Habitat • Have high primary productivity • Provide shelter and nesting sites vital to fish, waterfowl, muskrats, songbirds and others • Valuable for hunting and fishing, food, fiber, and energy • Wetland Protection • Since the late 1700’s over half of the wetlands in the US have been drained • Inland – filled for agriculture • Coastline – filled for urban and industrial development • 1980 US government adopted a “no net loss” wetland policy • Under Clean Water Act, regulates what happens around, prevents degradation and protection from development