The planet's ecosystems are considered as the various natural habitats that allow the development of a diversity of species, living organisms and interact with each other to form a perfect environmental balance. Next, in this article we will learn what wetlands are, a unique and important type of environment for the development of various aquatic species, continue reading.
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The planet earth is made up of diverse ecosystems and natural environments that provide great variety and diversity in the different regions, being classified into two mainly terrestrial ones such as savannahs, jungles, deserts, prairies, among others, and aquatic ones, which are made up of the oceans, rivers, lagoons, reefs. Each of them enriches the world, they are part of the development of life and have become essential for the conservation of natural species.
Aquatic ecosystems correspond to all those environments to all those biomes that have bodies of water, whether fresh water such as rivers, lagoons, reefs or springs or salt water such as seas, oceans and reefs. In this case, wetlands stand out, they are all those environments where their soils usually appear flooded at certain times of the year, they can have the presence of fresh water but also water with a certain degree of salinity. This fact means that it is considered as a possibly mixed type of ecosystem, since its environment varies in the different seasons of the year.
Wetlands consist of large expanses of land that are regularly completely flat, highlighting the fact that their surface is permanently and intermittently flooded; At the moment of being covered with water, the soil is saturated, reducing the amount of oxygen and creating a hybrid environment with the presence of aquatic and terrestrial species. As they have the presence of river water they are known as riparian, in case of low circulation they are defined as lacustrine.
The waters of the rivers are of great importance for plants, animals and people, because they provide rural areas with a diversity of species; In cases of flooding for this type of ecosystem, they allow a quality of water that provides life around it, feeding plants and insects that represent a base for food chains.
Wetland ecosystems include a variety of natural environments that represent this biome, such as swamps known as stagnant and very shallow layers of water where a diversity of aquatic species grows, peat bogs consist of an acidic wetland that is characterized by accumulating organic matter in the form of peat, among others. Each of these environments have arisen naturally without human intervention.
Anthropic wetlands can also be found, corresponding to those environments that are artificially modified or created by man, with the main purpose of retaining water and developing environments rich in aquatic flora; This type of environment is developed in the open air, taking into account all the ideal environmental conditions for it, they can be seen extensively, for natural reserves or natural benefit; also in small extensions such as lagoons or shallow lakes.
Wetland Types
Wetlands are known as groundwater territories that have low depth, their land is completely flooded with water intermittently or permanently. Depending on the type of liquid that this compound, whether fresh or salt water, will vary in its classification, it should also be considered that they can exist naturally (originated by various natural phenomena) or can arise from the manipulation of man known as anthropic . Below we know the main classification of wetlands according to their morphology:
Natural wetlands
Wetlands deal with land that is flooded by water, this type of environment can have a structure naturally, either by the tectonic movement of the surfaces that generate ideal land to accumulate a certain amount of water at different times. of the year. There are many areas worldwide considered wetlands, being classified by the type of water source that feeds said environment described below:
Riparian Wetlands (river)
Riparian wetlands are of the natural type, consisting of those extensions of land flooded by sources of water from rivers, streams and waterfalls; They are also known as freshwater. They represent a type of biome of great importance for allowing the development of various species of flora and fauna, some examples of this type of environment are flooded forests (Amazonas, South America), meander lakes (Oxbow lake) and plains.
Marine Wetlands
It consists of a type of natural wetland with a high content of salt water, being known as rocky, sandy and gravel beaches. The main sources of the liquid are ocean currents or coastal areas. The main biomes that encompass this environment are identified as coral and coastal reefs.
Estuarine Wetlands
Estuaries consist of an outlet in a deep area where salt water (marine) and fresh water (river) are exchanged. The wetlands with the presence of both types of water sources are of the natural type, known as swamps and some as mangroves.
Lake Wetlands
The word lacustrine refers to lakes or freshwater sources that come from natural freshwater lakes and lagoons. These types of wetlands are directly connected to lake sources.
Palustrine Wetlands
They consist of those ecosystems with waters with a content of fresh and salt water, due to this it is considered as a mixed biome varying in its concentration and therefore, granting a variety of environments, in case of a greater proportion of fresh water it is observed in the oases , swampy forests, flooded forests and swamps. While a higher proportion of salt water includes lakes and coastal lagoons.
Artificial Wetlands
Artificial or anthropic wetlands are those areas built by human beings in a controlled manner, they are the direct result of anthropic activities whose main objective is to control the volume of water for economic, environmental and environmental purposes. These types of wetlands are used as a mechanism to eliminate contaminants that are present in wastewater, based on physical, chemical and biological processes. They can be small extensions of land (swimming pools or ponds) or large extensions such as reservoirs and dams.
Wetland Characteristics
Wetlands are considered as a transition environment, this is attributed to the fact that certain times of the year it is an aquatic system and at other times it is completely terrestrial, for this reason it is classified as a mixed ecosystem. Considered as an ecosystem rich in biodiversity of plant and animal species, which makes it one of the areas with the greatest care for environmental impact.
The wetland habitat is considered as a temporary flooded area, either in periods of heavy rainfall or direct contact with water sources and can also be permanent and this is attributed to the presence of the liquid frequently enough. Wetland areas can be composed of stagnant water (they do not present a continuous current), currents (fluidity to circulate in the area), fresh water (minimum amounts of dissolved salts) and salt (high concentration of salts, especially sodium chloride ).
One of the main characteristics of wetlands is that they have a fairly shallow depth, being a maximum of six meters. It also represents an area rich in hydrophilic vegetation, dealing with plant species that are rooted in marshy places of fresh or brackish water with little depth, such as mangroves, tular, reedbeds, among others. It should be noted that this type of ecosystem only covers a specific piece of land, once reaching the end of the territory the environment changes completely and the plant species are totally different.
It represents one of the main habitats that offers a great variety of animal species, such as fish, crocodiles, rodents, among others, highlighting migratory birds, which move to these environments to feed themselves and other species of amphibians, insects and mammals. who take wetlands as a refuge.
Importance of Wetlands
Wetlands are considered the most important ecosystems within the entire environmental system, it should be noted that nature allows a perfect balance between its various elements that allow the development of the organisms that compose it and thus guarantee the development of life . This ecosystem is considered one of the largest biodiversity reserves of fauna such as birds, fish and many more. Most of these species consider it as an ideal environment for their continuous development due to the constant influence of water.
It also represents an ecosystem of great anthropic value (generated or transformed by man), wetlands have served to create environments destined for food production, due to their high water content they allow the development of crops of different grains and vegetables necessary for the society, for example rice or wheat. They are also used as essential areas for obtaining necessary and basic raw materials for man, such as wood and reeds.
The main importance for the conservation of wetlands is that they intervene in the regulation of the water cycle or surface water cycle, having control of the different controlling agents of possible floods, in addition to participating in erosion, nutrient regulation, biological production, retention of carbon dioxide, among others. All these factors intervene in the balance of the ecosystem and collaborate with its natural conservation.
World Wetlands Day
Due to the importance of this ecosystem, a world day was established in commemoration of its conservation, celebrated on February 2 of each year since 1997, born by the Convention on Wetlands in Ramsar of Iran. This type of treaty is focused on the rational conservation of wetlands, creating a list of all the habitats that meet its characteristics and can be designated as wetland areas.
The main objective of this type of agreement is the importance of conserving these ecosystems where the greatest biological diversity resides in species of aquatic plants, amphibians and reptiles, to the point that it is considered a refuge for them. In addition to being responsible for allowing regulators of biological cycles such as the water cycle, influencing local climatic conditions, it indirectly contributes to the control of droughts and floods in neighboring urban and rural areas.
Approximately 170 countries signed the treaty, committing themselves to conserving this type of natural habitat, emphasizing at all times the great importance for the environment. With this, they established a list that can be classified as wetlands, highlighting wet grasslands, peat bogs, deltas, swamps, marshes, rivers, coral reefs, mangroves and water holes; being all of them natural environments distributed in different areas of the world.
They also highlighted the wetlands built by man and the importance of their conservation, such as ponds (small streams), rice fields (rice crops), reservoirs (small water sources), salt flats (lakes with a high concentration of salts) and fish farms ( fish breeding pond). These types of environments allow carrying out various practices related to the economy, such as fishing and tourism.
The Ramsar Convention encompasses the conservation of wetlands, but especially the habitat of waterfowl, encouraging the rational use of this resource for the sustainable development of society, taking into account the importance of this type of biodiversity for the maintenance of the biological cycle in the planet Earth. Among the main wetlands highlighted in this treaty, in first place is that of Bolivia with 148 thousand square kilometers, followed by Canada with 130 thousand square kilometers and the Gulf of Queen Maud with more than 60 thousand square kilometers.
Conservation and sustainable wetland movements have ecological, economic, cultural, scientific and recreational purposes. Highlighting the fact that it is a very broad ecosystem and can encompass various varied environments, to enter the list of protected wetlands, its botany, zoology, limnology and hydrology are considered, allowing for different criteria on the various aquatic-terrestrial environments that are are distributed on the planet.
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