Wetlands - Many Names, One Common Factor: Water

In New England:• Salt marsh• Freshwater marsh• Swamp• Bog• Tidal flat• Mud flat

In other places: • Pothole• Slough • Bayou

Adapted from presentations by Linda Armstrong and Creek Connection

Marshes

• Can have salt or freshwater

• Salt marshes are tidal and have highly variable conditions

• Along coasts and waterways

• Large marshes up to 7 feet deep; small marshes may dry up in summer.

• Soft-stemmed vegetation

Swamps- Woody plants- Often near waterways- Shallow water - May dry up in summer

Bogs• In deep depressions that do not drain

or drain slowly

• Peat, sphagnum moss

• Acidic, can be very deep, saturated with water

• Can be surrounded by trees & shrubs

• Cranberry bogs have sandy soil

Tidal flats or Mud flats• Many shellfish, worms,

crustaceans, and other invertebrates live under surface and provide food for other organisms

• Seabirds feed on mudflats

• Sand or mud moved by tide, currents, and storms

Vernal Pools

•“Temporary wetlands”-no fish

•Vary in size

•Fill in spring and early summer after snow melts and early rains

•Important as breeding places for for amphibians and macroinvertebrates

Scrub-Shrub Wetlands

- Small trees and shrubs

- Common near lakes and streams

Emergent Wetlands- Emergent plants

- Grasses, sedges, rushes (round). and soft stemmed herbaceous plants

Grass

Sedges

Rushes