Lecture 4- Mineral Wetlands Flashcards
What is a wetland?
Land that is saturated with water long enough to promote wetland or aquatic processes as indicated by poorly drained soils, hydrophytic vegetation and various kinds of biological activity that are adapted to a wet environment
What creates a wetland?
When it hits up against bedrock, cant flow up so it pools up against the canadian shield = physical barrier
Wetlands follow the distribution of ________
Canadian Shield
What are the two characteristics of wetland hydrology?
- Seasonal water fluctuations
- Amount of water flowing through system
Describe the two characteristics of wetland chemistry
- Nutrient availability
- pH (acidity or alkalinity) - associated with how much ground water is being accessed
What happens to pH if lots of ground water?
Higher pH
What happens to pH if less ground water or flowing water?
Lower pH
What are the two biotic characteristics of wetlands?
- Development of organic ground layer
- Presence of trees
What is a key aspect of wetlands?
Not all wetlands are the same and can appear on different gradients, no defining feature just a gradient
Wetlands differ by what characteristics?
- Moisture regime
- Nutrient regime
- Hydrodynamic regime
What does moisture regime mean?
Refers to the soil moisture
What does nutrient regime mean?
Refers to amount of soil nutrients available
What does Hydrodynamic regime mean?
Refers to flow of water
What is hydric?
Always saturated
What is hygric?
Sometimes saturated (periodically saturated)
What is mesic?
No standing water, but moderate soil moisture
What are some characteristics of mineral wetlands?
- Characterized by mineral rich soils
- Soil is poorly developed (less decomposition, less oxygen)
- No accumulation of peat layer
- Excess water collects on soil surface then flow into sediment and out of wetland
- Can recharge adjacent ground water
- Connectivity to ground water
- Store excess water, slow flow down, can release excess water over time without damage
- Can take contaminants, cleaning of water thats coming in
- Store lots of carbon (settles in sediment)
- Important for hydrology of landscape
Describe water levels of shallow open water wetlands
Contains water all year round and is less than 2m deep
What vegetation is present in shallow open water wetlands?
- Water is too deep for emergent vegetation
- Aquatic and floating vegetation
Are there fish and duck present in shallow open water wetlands?
- Fish, including some sportfish
- More diversity of fish population = duck diving population that dive for fish
Describe the water levels in marshes
Shallow surface water, fluctuating levels
What are marshes fed by?
Patch of open water fed by surface flow, precipitation, snow melt and can be short lived
What vegetation is present in marshes?
- Supports emergent vegetation
- Higher rates of decomposition b/c it dies in winter which means more nutrient availability
Describe water levels of swamps
- Forested wetland
- Water levels at or above ground surface
- Dryer than other wetlands
