Why are wetlands important?

Question 1

What ecosystem functions wetlands have (8 mentioned in slide 25 + others not mentioned there)?

Answer 1

• Improve water quality: wetlands purify water, filtering out sediments and contaminants
• Provide fish and wildlife habitat
• Provide recreation, open space and aesthetic value
• Reduce flooding by soaking up and store of water and slow release of it in streams
• Dissipate energy during heavy rainfall reducing stream speed and acting as natural sponges that absorb water
• Control erosion buffering shorelines and binding the soil with their roots
• Supply groundwater flow
• Protect the coast from storms by buffering the wave energy

not mentioned in slide 25:
• Climate change regulator being a carbon sink
• Regulation of the global nitrogen cycle
• As a habitat for many species of flora and fauna, in some cases, it is possible to use this diversity to obtain new useful information into biological adaptation and medicine creation

Question 2

What ecosystem functions wetlands have (mentioned in the film)?

Answer 2

• Diversity, this can be valued in different ways, such as provider of goods or aesthetic value
• Biomass production for human consumption as food and timber
• Medicine creation source
• Provides fresh water for irrigation and consumption acting as a natural groundwater and fresh water treatment system
• Regulation of climate change storing carbon
• Flood control
• Prevents coastal erosion

Question 3

What are the two most productive wetlands according to the graph of slide 13 (the purple slide that is everywhere)?

Answer 3

freshwater wetland and salt marsh

Question 4

Why the high rate of NPP of wetlands is impresive?

Answer 4

it is generated without the use of fossil fuels, fertilizers, no need of care from humans, no iirigation or heavy machinery

Question 5

Why the NPP is not considered by humans as important?

Answer 5

because the production is different from what we normally use or produce

Question 6

What is a valid value of NPP for many wetlans? and how many times is that compared to the NPP of terrestrial systems?

Answer 6

9 gbiomass/m2

3.5 times the value for terrestrial systems

Question 7

what are the 4 rules that govern the number of species in wetlands?

Answer 7

1. Increases with increasing latitude (tropics > template > boreal)
2. Increases with area of wetland S=c*A^z with c and z = constants
3. Increases with topographical variation (really sensitive parameter, minimal changes can crate huge changes)
4. Few species dominate most samples so species list are inadequate to describe wetlands