22 articles
Bayou
Bayou: a slow-moving creek or still water channel of the Gulf Coast, from Louisiana French and Choctaw bayuk (small stream), first in English 1766; distinct from a swamp.
Bottomland hardwood forest
A bottomland hardwood forest is a seasonally flooded deciduous forest on the river floodplains of the southeastern and south-central United States, dominated by gum, oak, and baldcypress.
Brackish marsh
Brackish marsh: tidal wetland in estuaries where seawater mixes with freshwater, with water salinity 0.5-35 ppt and soil salinity 0.5-18 ppt, between salt marsh and freshwater tidal marsh in vegetation and position.
Coastal squeeze
Coastal squeeze is the loss of intertidal habitats such as saltmarshes and mudflats when fixed defenses like sea walls prevent them migrating landward as sea level rises.
Coniferous swamp
Coniferous swamp: a forested wetland with at least 50 percent conifer canopy (white cedar, tamarack, balsam fir) where sphagnum moss is not the dominant substrate; saturated soils, hummocky surface, northern lake-basin settings, distinct from bogs and hardwood swamps.
De Biesbosch National Park
De Biesbosch National Park (Nationaal Park De Biesbosch) is Europe's largest freshwater tidal area, in North Brabant and South Holland, formed by the 1421 St. Elizabeth flood, a national park since 1994, home to about 300 beavers.
Dyke Marsh
Dyke Marsh (Dyke Marsh Wildlife Preserve) is a 485-acre freshwater tidal wetland on the Potomac River in Fairfax County, Virginia, part of George Washington Memorial Parkway, degraded by 1940-1972 gravel dredging and now slated for restoration.
El Charco de Bristol
El Charco de Bristol (Charca de Brístol) is a small 100 m coastal lagoon and salt marsh in Corralejo, La Oliva, Fuerteventura, Canary Islands; the island's only Sarcocornia perennis site, an IBA wading-bird wetland, and a dog-friendly beach.
Hydrosere
Hydrosere: the seral sequence of ecological succession beginning in open water (pond, lake, swamp), also called hydrarch succession, running from phytoplankton through marsh stages toward a terrestrial climax; counterpart of the xerosere.
Interdunal wetland
Interdunal wetland, also called dune slack, is a wetland in depressions between dunes or beach ridges with a fluctuating water table; Great Lakes, European, Californian, and desert variants are imperiled, hydrologically sensitive habitats.
Long Lake (Indiana)
Long Lake (Indiana Dunes, near Gary, Indiana): East and West Long Lake, large shallow interdunal lakes in Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, formed from glacial Lake Chicago remnants; seeps into groundwater; distinct from Long Lakes in Noble and Steuben Counties.
Mangrove swamp
Mangrove swamp: a tropical and subtropical intertidal coastal wetland dominated by salt-tolerant mangrove trees, about 80 species, 14.8 million hectares globally, defined by tidal flooding, salt adaptations, blue carbon storage, and coastal protection.
Marsh
Marsh: a wetland frequently or continually inundated with water, dominated by emergent soft-stemmed vegetation such as cattails and cordgrass; distinct from swamps (woody), bogs (acidic peat), and fens (groundwater-fed), with neutral pH, high nutrients, and flood- and storm-buffering functions.
Pantanal
The Pantanal is the world's largest tropical wetland, about 42 million acres across Bolivia, Brazil, and Paraguay, defined by an annual flood pulse, exceptional wildlife including jaguars and 10 million caimans, extensive cattle ranching, and growing fire and drought threats.
Reed bed
Reed bed: wetland dominated by common reed (Phragmites australis), over 60% cover. Covers natural fen habitat, rare in Britain, and engineered reed bed systems for wastewater and sludge treatment since 1985.
Salt marsh
A salt marsh is a coastal wetland flooded and drained by tidal salt water, occurring worldwide and serving as nursery habitat for over 75% of fisheries species.
Strand swamp
Strand swamp (also cypress strand) is a Florida natural community: a shallow, elongated, forested wetland channel dominated by bald cypress, with 200-300 day hydroperiod, peat-over-limestone soils, and rare fire, best exemplified by the Fakahatchee Strand.
Swamp
A swamp is a wetland dominated by woody trees or shrubs, distinguished from marshes by vegetation; major types are forested and shrub swamps, including mangrove swamps, with flood-protection and nutrient-removal functions.
Swamps and tall-herb fens in the British National Vegetation Classification system
Swamps and tall-herb fens are NVC vegetation types S1–S28, also called British Plant Communities Volume 4 wetland communities, covering reed-beds, sedge swamps and tall-herb fens used in SSSI and Annex I habitat assessment.
Tidal creek
Tidal creek, also called tidal channel or mangrove creek: a small channel network in coastal wetlands, tidal along its entire length, draining watersheds under 50 km2 into estuaries. Known for dendritic tapering channels, nursery habitat for fisheries, and remote-sensing extraction methods.
Tidal freshwater marsh
A tidal freshwater marsh is a herbaceous wetland in the upper estuary or tidal river, where ocean tides move the water twice daily but river discharge keeps it fresh.
Tidal marsh
Tidal marsh (salt marsh): vegetated intertidal coastal wetland, a blue carbon ecosystem burying carbon about 40 times faster than forests. Distinguished from mangroves and seagrass; US tidal marshes lost 1,567 km2 over four decades, driven by sea level rise and extreme weather.