TYPES OF WETLANDS

BOG

MARSH

SWAMP

PRAIRIE POT HOLES

VERNAL POOLS

SLOUGH

FEN

Bogs are one of North America's most distinctive kinds of wetlands. They are characterized by spongy peat deposits, acidic waters, and a floor covered by a thick carpet of sphagnum moss. Bogs receive all or most of their water from precipitation rather than from runoff, groundwater or streams. As a result, bogs are low in the nutrients needed for plant growth, a condition that is enhanced by acid forming peat mosses.

Bogs serve an important ecological function in preventing downstream flooding by absorbing precipitation. Bogs support some of the most interesting plants in the United States (like the carnivorous sundew), and provide habitat to animals threatened by human encroachment. carnivorous sundew

The northern pitcher plant (Sarracenia purpurea) overcomes the nutrient deficiencies of bog life by capturing insects in pools of water in its leaves and digesting them with the help of some local bacteria.

• Bogs in the United States are mostly found in the glaciated northeast and Great Lakes regions (northern bogs), but also in the southeast (pocosins). Their acreage declined historically, as they were drained to be used as cropland, and mined for their peat which was used as a fuel and a soil conditioner. Recently, bogs have been recognized for their role in regulating the global climate by storing large amounts of carbon in peat deposits. Bogs are unique communities that can be destroyed in a matter of days, but require hundreds, if not thousands, of years to form naturally.

The term "pocosin" comes from the Algonquin phrase "swamp on a hill". As its name suggests, these swamps are usually located in upland areas. They can be found from Virginia, to Northern Florida and are particularly abundant in North Carolina where they were estimated to cover approximately 2,300 square miles in 1979 (Mitsch and Gosselink, 1984).

• Current• Herbaceous

plants• Mild acid/base• No floating

soil

Tidal marshes can be found along protected coastlines in middle and high latitudes worldwide.

Tidal marshes serve many important functions. They buffer stormy seas, slow shoreline erosion, and are able to absorb excess nutrients before they reach the oceans and estuaries. High concentrations of nutrients can cause oxygen levels low enough to harm wildlife, such as the "Dead Zone" in the Gulf of Mexico. Tidal marshes also provide vital food and habitat for clams, crabs, and juvenile fish, as well as offering shelter and nesting sites for several species of migratory waterfowl.

• Non-tidal marshes are the most prevalent and widely distributed

wetlands in North America. • It is easy to recognize a non-tidal

marsh by its characteristic soils, vegetation, and wildlife. Highly organic, mineral rich soils of sand, silt, and clay underlie these wetlands, while lily pads, cattails (see photo), reeds, and bulrushes provide excellent habitat for waterfowl and other small mammals, such as red-winged blackbirds, great blue herons, otters, and muskrats.

• Current• Woody plants• More acid/base• No floating soil

Swamps are forested wetlands. Like marshes, they are often found near rivers or lakes and have mineral soil that drains very slowly. Unlike marshes, they have trees and bushes. They may have water in them for the whole year or for only part of the year. Swamps vary in size and type. Some swamps have soil that is nutrient rich, other swamps have nutrient poor soil. Swamps are often classified by the types of trees that grow in them.

• Conifer Swamps– Trees like white cedar, northern white cedar, eastern hemlock, eastern white pine,

pitch pine, loblolly pine and black spruce are common in conifer swamps.

• Hardwood Swamps– Hardwood swamps have trees like red maple, black willow, aspen, cottonwood,

ashes, elms, swamp white oak, pin oak, tupelo and birches.

• Shrub Swamps– Shrub swamps have small trees and bushes like buttonwood, willow, alders and

dogwood.

• Cypress Swamps– Cypress swamps are found in the southern United States. They are named for the

bald cypress tree.

Types of Swamps

Conifer Swamps Hardwood Swamps

Shrub Swamps Cypress Swamps

Swamps

Prairie Pothole• A prairie pothole is a small wetland that can be found in

the grasslands of central North America. These areas were formed from glacial activity that carved out a large number of potholes. Snowmelt and rain fill the potholes in the spring and many species of plants such as cattail and bulrushes begin to grow. Mallards, pintails and gadwalls as well as many other species of ducks nest in the pothole marshes.

The prairie potholes of Canada, Minnesota and North and South Dakota were formed by glaciers scraping over the landscape during the Pleistocene.

Vernal pools• Vernal pools are seasonal depressional wetlands that occur under the

Mediterranean climate conditions of the West Coast. They are covered by shallow water for variable periods from winter to spring, but may be completely dry for most of the summer and fall. These wetlands range in size from small puddles to shallow lakes and are usually found in a gently sloping plain of grassland.

SLOUGH• A slough ("sloo") is a shallow depression or low spot on the floodplains that contains slowly moving water. Many animals depend upon these areas for food and water during dry periods. A slough can be found in the southeastern United States. Plants and trees that could be found in a slough include pickerelweed, alder, willow and bulrushes. Creatures found in the water and nearby include snails, stickleback fish, tiger salamanders, bitterns and grebes.

FEN• A fen is a type of wetland fed

by alkaline, mineral-rich groundwater and characterized by a distinctive flora. Fens are often confused with bogs, which are fed primarily by rainwater and often inhabited by sphagnum moss, making them acidic. Like other wetlands, fens will ultimately fill in and become a terrestrial community such as a woodland through the process of ecological succession.

Fens, like bogs, are peatlands, but because they are fed by groundwater they are not so acidic as bogs.