Types of Wetlands
Created By:
Caroline Leggett
Nancy Vest
Jennifer Williams

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OBJECTIVES

1.  The students will compare and contrast the different types of wetlands.
Theme 1.3:  The acquiring, recording, arranging and storing of information must be performed in a complete, accurate, concise, and user friendly manner.

2.  The students will describe the importance of the different types of wetlands and their functions.
Theme 1.5:  An essential aspect of science is the art of accurately and effectively conveying oral, written, graphic, or electronic information from the preparer to the user.

The Okefenokee Swamp is located in southeastern Georgia and northeastern
Florida and is one of the largest freshwater wetlands in the United states.  It is a combination of six different wetland types such as pond cypress forest, emergent marshes, aquatic beds, broad-leaved evergreen forest, broad-leaved shrub wetland, mixed cypress forest, and black gum forest.  In all, Georgia alone boasts over 60 different wetland types.  The major categories and some examples are discussed below.

COASTAL WETLANDS

• All coastal wetlands are saltwater wetlands and are found along every coast in the United States and around the world.
• Coastal wetlands make up 5 % of all our Nation's wetlands.
• Many coastal wetlands are located near large cities and are therefore very vulnerable to the pressures of development.
• There are two types of coastal wetlands, Marine and Estuarine.

• Make up the majority (about 95 %) of wetlands in the United States.
• They occur throughout the interior of every state and are commonly found along the banks of rivers, streams, lakes, ponds, and isolated water filled depressions.
• The three major types of freshwater wetlands include Lacustrine, Riverine, and Palustrine.
• The vast majority of Georgia's wetlands (95 %) are Palustrine wetlands.

 

PALUSTRINE WETLANDS	LACUSTRINE  WETLANDS	RIVERINE  WETLANDS
Are nontidal freshwater wetlands.  They are dominated by trees, shrubs, or persistent emergent plants.  Also included are areas with less than 20 acres where the water is less than 6.6 feet deep.	Include nontidal and tidal freshwater wetlands.  They are situated in a topographic depression or a dammed river channel.  They are permanetly flooded with freshwater deeper than 6.6 feet and are usually larger than 20 acres.	Are nontidal and tidal freshwater wetlands and deepwater habitats contained within a channel of moving water and are found along rivers and streams.  When vegetation is present, it is predominately non-persistent emergent plants and/or submersed floating plants.
The salinity of the water is less than 0.5 ppt.	The salinity in Lacustrine wetlands is less than 0.5 ppt.	The salinity of the water is less than 0.5 ppt.
Examples: Floodplain/bottomland hardwood swamps, forested wetlands, non-alluvial forested wetlands, shrub/scrub areas, emergent ponds and bogs, and aquatic beds.	Examples: impoundment or natural lakes formed by dams, natural stream levees, river meanders or beaver dams, Okefenokee/Carolina Bay, limesinks, sagponds, and barrier island lakes.	Examples: mountain streams, brown water streams, blackwater streams, tidal streams, mountain, Piedmont and Coastal Plain springs.

1.  Use the internet to research one well known wetland such as the Okefenokee Swamp.  Identify the type of wetland as long as the vegetation and wildlife contents.

2.  Research the types of wetlands that are located here in East Tennessee.  Describe how these are important to our ecogolical system.

3.  As a class create a Bog Ecosystem/Habitat in the school yard.

There are many different forms of wetlands in the United States and all over the world.  These wetlands all have differnt qualities that make them unique, but important to the eco-system.  These wetlands are often found right in our own neighborhoods.

You will be assessed by the quality of the reports and participation in the classwide activity that is listed above.