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Please get out your objectives #8-13 for a stamp and read the board! . Challenge by choice:. Front 3 rows: Happy with map quiz yesterday, ready to learn about wetlands Back 2 rows and lab tables: Would like to make corrections on map! . Wetlands are Wonderful!.
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Please get out your objectives #8-13 for a stamp and read the board!
Challenge by choice: • Front 3 rows: Happy with map quiz yesterday, ready to learn about wetlands • Back 2 rows and lab tables: Would like to make corrections on map!
Legal definition of a “wetland” • Wet soils • Anaerobic – lack oxygen; grey in color • Water loving plants • Chordgrass • Bladderwart • Sedges, rushes, reeds • Hydrology • Standing water at least two weeks of the year
Differences? • Wetlands vs. rivers – • Slower water • More plant life • More shallow • May be seasonal/ephemeral
Wetland types • bogs and fens of the northeastern and north-central states and Alaska • wet meadows or wet prairies in the Midwest • prairie potholes like the Katy Prairie • playa lakes of the southwest and Great Plains • bottomland hardwood swamps of the south • tundra wetlands of Alaska. • Coastal salt marshes or tidal marshes
Acidic anaerobic conditions in bogs preserve organic materials
natural water quality improvement, Neutralizes acids/basesFilters out sediment (plant stems/still water)Provides decomposition opportunities (removing plant nutrients, oxygen demanding wastes)
Nursery for young fish, crabs, shrimp • Louisiana's coastal marshes produce an annual commercial fish and shellfish harvest that amounted to 1.2 billion pounds worth $244 million in 1991.
Wetlands have recreational, historical, scientific, and cultural values. • More than half of all U.S. adults (98 million) hunt, fish, birdwatch or photograph wildlife. They spend a total of $59.5 billion annually. Painters and writers continue to capture the beauty of wetlands on canvas and paper, or through cameras, and video and sound recorders.
The Katy Prairie • The Katy Prairie