Wetlands

When you hear the word wetland what do you think of?  Possibly something along the lines of a swamp, lake, river or any combination of these.  Well, any one of these areas described above are technically not wetlands because according to the site https://www.wetlands-initiative.org/why-wetlands/what-is-a-wetland.html , a wetland is defined as an area that is dependent and/or determined by the water, and the presence of the water in that area.  The biochemistry of this area is determined or dependent on this presence of water, and this area also must be covered in water.  The water is fairly shallow.  This water is also un-drained, standing water.  You may have an idea of what a wetland is now, but did you know that there are different types of wetlands?  That is correct, there is not simply one type of wetland, listed on the same site are different types.  These types include marshes, wet meadows which simply have soil that is moist and saturated all of the time, wet prairie, which is the driest wetland, but still considered a wetland, fens and seeps, which grow from groundwater that travels south from a hill or mountain, and lastly, bogs.  Bogs only get water for the wetland by precipitation.  There is no groundwater that comes into a bog.  The only source is precipitation.  So why are wetlands of any importance?  Do they do anything, or are they just a home for wildlife in that area?  Well, wetlands do a lot more than you would think.  They are a habitat to some animals, and according to the site http://water.epa.gov/type/wetlands/fish.cfm , there are animals that are endangered that live only in wetlands, one third of the endangered and threatened animals in the U.S. live only in wetland areas actually.  But what else do wetland do?  Well, according to the site http://water.epa.gov/type/wetlands/people.cfm , one function that wetlands perform that is helpful is filtering.  What exactly does this mean?  Well, when water runs through a wetland, it catches anything that would clog other water ways.  It also collects some pollutants during this filtering process as water moves through as well.  This saves money because without these pollutants being filtered, more money would have to be spent to treat more polluted water.  Also in this site, it is said that wetlands flow and may replenish the groundwater in dry seasons.  This groundwater is used by a lot of people as a source of drinking water, or just simply a water source for other water needs.  When you think about that, you start to realize how important that is for areas around the world.  If these wetlands do not replenish the groundwater during dry seasons, there would not be any source of water possibly for areas around the world.  That itself is a very important quality of wetlands.  On this same site, there is also another very unique quality of wetlands that I never would have thought of.  This is wetlands being able to protect against erosion on banks and shores because the roots of the vegetation in wetlands hold the soil firmly in place, as well as take the energy intake of crashing waves coming in on a shoreline.  I found this to be so interesting and unique.  Not a lot of people probably know about this and just how important wetlands are.  It is important to preserve wetlands.  This is very important to the RAMSAR Convention, also known as the Convention on Wetlands.  According to their homepage http://www.ramsar.org/ , they are "an intergovernmental treaty that provides the framework for national action and international cooperation for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources."  If you visit the same site, you can find the list of every country that is a part of RAMSAR.  This convention's main purpose is to preserve wetlands and to maintain them and study their benefits and unique qualities that can do so many things.  While searching this site, you can click on a map of the sites everywhere around the globe.  We were asked to find what big country that does not have much affiliation with RAMSAR, and on the map you can see that the Republic of Korea is apart of RAMSAR, however, not any of the sites are located in North Korea.  They are all located in South Korea.  We were also asked about RAMSAR in Ohio, and there is RAMSAR in Ohio, it is called Ohio Wetlands Association.  There is a website for it, http://www.ohwetlands.org/contact-us.html .  You can become a member, make a donation to support wetlands and their conservation, or go on a field trip to learn more about wetlands and their importance!  They are located out of Amherst, Ohio.  I hope this blog was helpful in providing some information about wetlands and just how important they really are.