At the posted coordinates you will learn about this geological
feature and the hydrologic (water related) benefits this wetland
has on the surrounding area. The first hydrologic benefit is that
the wetland helps to prevent flooding and store water. It functions
as natural sponge that traps and slowly releases surface water,
rain, snowmelt, groundwater and flood waters. This helps to lower
flood heights and reduce erosion. Since this wetland is within and
downstream of urban areas it helps to counteract the greatly
increased rate and volume of surface water runoff from pavement and
buildings.
Wetlands are places within the landscape where water accumulates
long enough to affect the condition of the soil or substrate and
promote the growth of wet-tolerant plants. Places called wetlands
include rivers, creeks, swamps, marshes, bogs, and similar areas,
which, in effect, are components of the drainage system of the
land. Three factors used to define wetlands include the presence of
water, hydric soils, and wetland plants. These are also factors
used to recognize or describe wetlands within the landscape. Of
these, the presence of water is the most important factor -- given
its role in the formation of hydric soils and, with hydric soils,
its role in promoting the growth of wetland plants. . Identifying
wetlands and delineating the boundaries between wetlands and
adjacent non-wetland areas involves the search for evidence of all
three criteria. Water The presence of surface water is an obvious
component of wetlands such as ponds, lakes, and streams. A number
of other wetland types, however, might have standing water or
saturated soils only on a seasonal basis. These seasonally wet
areas include some types of swamps and savannas. These wetlands
undergo a yearly cycle that ranges from wet conditions when
standing water is present and soils are saturated to periods when
soils are dry. The length of wet or dry periods might vary from
year to year, and some years parts of the cycle might be absent.
When there is no standing water or saturated soils, other evidence
for the presence of water is used to describe these wetlands. Such
evidence includes watermarks on trees, or the presence of hydric
soils. Watermarks can consist of dried sediment that coats the base
of trees or watermarks can take the form of a "moss" line
consisting of the lower limit of growth of common mosses found
attached to tree trunks. In seasonally wet wetlands that have no
trees, the presence of water is usually inferred from the presence
of hydric soils that are formed under frequent (yearly) and
relatively long (weeks) periods of soil saturation. Hydric Soils
The term "hydric" reflects the effect water (from the Greek root
hydro) can have on a soil or substrate when present (constantly or
seasonally) for extended periods of time (typically requiring
years, decades, or longer). Under this condition, the chemistry of
the organic (carbon-based) and inorganic (mineral) components of
the soil is said to be in a reduced state (i.e., without oxygen),
and many biological processes, such as decomposition of organic
matter, are slowed. Alternately, in the presence of oxygen, these
components might become oxidized (i.e., oxygen chemically bonding
with these components). These processes are often accompanied by a
change in color of the soil itself. Soils that contain large
amounts of iron, for example, are typically reddish in color,
reflecting the "rusting" or oxidation of the iron. These same
soils, if found in wetland areas that have been exposed to
saturated conditions for long periods of time (years), will be in a
reduced state and will be grayer in color. In many cases, hydric
soils will show a mottled appearance of alternating gray and
reddish (oxidized) areas that reflect an alternating pattern of wet
and dry periods. Organic materials, such as dead leaves, also will
take on a dark color under saturated or reduced conditions. Because
of the effect reduced or anoxic conditions have on the color of
soil or substrate, color is used to identify hydric soils (through
the use of soil color charts). Because of the previously discussed
relationship between water and soil conditions, the presence of
hydric soils is often used as an indicator of soil type and the
presence of water. Vegetation The presence of wetland plants is a
function of the influences of water and hydric soils, both of which
represent stresses to plant growth. Wetland plants must cope with
an over abundance of water and the lack of oxygen in the soil. To a
large degree, wetland plants are capable of growing under these
stresses and, in many cases, there are physical or physiological
mechanisms to cope with these problems. For example, cypress knees
and mangrove pneumataphores are modifications of roots that are
believed to function in gas exchange. A number of wetland plants
are also known to transport (or pump) oxygen actively from the air
through their leaves down to the roots, which cannot get oxygen
from anoxic soils. The color of root channels through soils is, in
fact, used to help identify hydric soils because of the action of
oxygen's leaking around the roots themselves, which causes any iron
in the soil to become oxidized or "rusted" (showing a reddish
color).
Plants are classified based on their natural distributions
across a range of wet to dry soil conditions.
*Obligate plant species are found almost always (99 percent of
the time)
*under wet (obligate wetland)
*dry conditions (obligate upland).
Plant species might also fall into one of three additional
categories between these extremes:
facultative wetland (largely in wet soils, 67 to 99 percent of the
time)
facultative (in wet or drysoils, 34 to 66 percent of the time in
either)
facultative upland (largely in dry soils, 67 to 99 percent of the
time)
Five major wetland types are generally recognized:
• marine (coastal wetlands including coastal lagoons, rocky shores,
and coral reefs);
• estuarine (including deltas, tidal marshes, and mangrove
swamps);
• lacustrine (wetlands associated with lakes);
• riverine (wetlands along rivers and streams)
• palustrine (meaning “marshy” - marshes, swamps and bogs).
Please Email your answers to MSWAHOO@gmail.com
What type of wetlands did you visit at this site?
Did you see any watermarks on the trees?
Name one of the "invaders" of this wetlands? (You are looking for
plants that are invading. Enjoy a walk along the boardwalk to find
the answer
Post a picture of yourself on the boardwalk.