Wetlands Answers

When the soil is saturated with water, the wood debris that falls to the ground cannot be completely decomposed. The matter that remains eventually becomes a layer of peat.

Detritus is important to wetland ecosystems, because it provides a food source for a variety of aquatic organisms.

Wetlands play a vital role in the health of the environment. In addition to supporting a variety of organisms, they also reduce water erosion by trapping sediments. Wetlands help clean water by absorbing nutrients that are added to the water supply through agriculture and industry. The high levels of biodiversity allows the bacteria and nutrients added to water to be absorbed by organisms in the wetland ecosystem.

Marshes, swamps, and bogs are all types of wetlands. This means that their soil can be saturated either permanently or seasonally. As wetlands, they are all characterized by high levels of biodiversity. Swamps tend to have a larger proportion of surface water than marshes and, in North America, are characterized by the presence of trees. Bogs have acidic groundwater as a result of their surface water resulting mainly from precipitation.

Wetlands have a high level of biodiversity because of the amount of resources available. The high levels of accessible water, nutrient levels, and primary productivity allow for a large number and variety of organisms at the base of the food web. This allows the ecosystem to support a variety of higher level organisms as well.