What Is A Wetland? Flashcards
What is a wetland?
Land saturated with water long enough to promote aquatic processes related to
-poorly drained soils
-hydrophilic vegetation
-wet adapted biological activities
What are the 5 major wetland classes in the Canadian wetland classification system (CWCS)?
Bog
Fen
Swamp
Marsh
Open shallow waters
What are the mineral wetlands
Swamps
Marshes
Shallow open waters
What are the organic wetlands
Bogs
Fens
What do organic and mineral wetlands refer to?
The soil type
What’s another word for organic wetlands?
Peatlands
Can some mineral wetlands have organic soils?
Yes, deep organic soils
What are the different kinds of bogs
Treed
Shrub
Open
What are the different kinds of fens
Can be rich or poor, and each of those categories has
Treed
Shrub
Graminoid
What kinds of swamps are there
Hardwood
Mixedwood
Shrub
Tamarack
Conifer
What are the different types of marsh
Emergent
Meadow
Types of shallow open water
Aquatic bed
Mudflats
Open water
What are organic soils that are more than 40cm deep indicative of?
Peatlands
What do shallow, low nutrient soils less than 40cm deep indicate?
Mineral soil wetlands
What are 7 characteristics of mineral wetlands?
- Less than 40cm of organic deposits
- Nutrient rich
- Low porosity
- High bulk density
- Low water holding capacity
- Comprised of sand, silt, or clay
- Gleyed soils
What is gleying?
Water logged blue-grey soil, may have rusty brown mottles
Why might gleyed soil have rusty brown mottling?
It’s from the periodic drying of soils as the water table fluctuates. This is typically found near the shallow organic layer.
The periodic drying of anoxic soil causes a conversion to iron oxide in the air pores around plant roots.
What is soil gleying exactly?
Happens when soil is saturated by water for a long time. It causes the air pores in the soil to fill with water. In the anoxic environment, the oxygen in the soil is reduced/converted to a soluble state causing the blue-ish grey colour
What does red mottled gleying indicate
Fluctuating water table in the root zone of swamps
What are the 3 subclasses of organic soils
- Fibric (least decomposed, fibres intact)
- Mesic (somewhat decomposed)
- Humic (most decomposed)
What are the 5 characteristics of organic soils?
- Poorly decomposed organic matter
- Accumulates over time due to cool wet conditions
- Acidic
- Low bulk density
- High water holding capacity
What are 4 characteristics of shallow open water?
-dominated by floating or submerged aquatic plants
-less than 25% cover of emergent or woody vegetation
-usually inundated or flooded
-less than 2m deep
What 3 species tend to be present in shallow open water wetlands
-small yellow pond lily
-Floating leaf pond weed
-bulrush
What are 4 characteristics of marshes
-dominated by non-woody vegetation (grasses and sedges, forbs, or emergent plants)
-Periodic or persistent standing water less than 1m deep
-nutrient rich
-tends to be transitional area between open water, swamps, and upland shorelines
2 types of marsh
-emergent
-meadow
What 3 plants might you find in a marsh
-bulrush
-spiked water milfoil
-bluejoint grass
What are two characteristics of swamps?
-dominated by trees
-water table fluctuates seasonally
In swamps, what two things result from water table fluctuations
-richness in dissolved minerals
-periodic drying allows for oxygenated soils and vigorous growth of trees and shrubs
