414 articles
Parnassia palustris
Parnassia palustris, marsh grass-of-Parnassus or bog star (梅花草), a circumpolar perennial herb of Celastraceae with white five-petaled flowers and nectar-mimicking staminodes, pollinated deceptively by flies, IUCN least concern.
Peat swamp forest
Peat swamp forest: tropical forest on waterlogged peat, best developed in Southeast Asia (Borneo, Sumatra, Peninsular Malaysia). Stores ~105 GtC in tropical peat; drained and burned for oil palm and acacia plantations, emitting ~692 Tg CO2e yearly; restored by canal blocking.
Peatland
Peatland: waterlogged wetland ecosystem (bogs, fens, mires, swamps) with surface peat from partly decomposed plants; covers ~3% of land, stores ~20% of soil carbon (238–612 Gt C), and emits ~5% of GHGs when drained.
Peatland drainage impact
Peatland drainage impact covers the environmental consequences of draining peatlands: drained peat becomes a carbon source, causing emissions, subsidence of 1 to 8 meters, and water degradation.
Peatland restoration
Peatland restoration is the practice of returning drained or degraded peatlands to health, mainly by rewetting them so they again store carbon, support peat-forming vegetation, and cut greenhouse gas emissions.
Peel-Yalgorup system
Peel-Yalgorup System, Ramsar Site 482, wetland of international importance near Mandurah, Western Australia; 26,530 ha, listed 1990, over 20,000 waterbirds, Lake Clifton thrombolites, Bindjareb Noongar country.
Peninsular Malaysian peat swamp forests
Peninsular Malaysian peat swamp forests are waterlogged, peat-forming coastal forests of the Malay Peninsula, part of Southeast Asia's tropical peat swamp ecoregion, now reduced by drainage, fire, and oil palm conversion to fragmented reserves such as North Selangor and Southeast Pahang.
Perolniyoc
Perolniyoc is a waterfall in the Socma community of the Ollantaytambo district, Cusco region of Peru, with the Inca-era archaeological site of Raqaypata directly above it.
Phragmites
Phragmites, the common reed genus, includes four clonal wetland grasses; the Eurasian subspecies Phragmites australis australis is a major North American wetland invader, distinguished from native americanus by faster spread, higher biomass, and stronger diversity reduction.
Pink and White Terraces
Pink and White Terraces (Te Otukapuarangi, Te Tarata): giant silica sinter terraces at Lake Rotomahana, New Zealand, famed as the eighth wonder of the world, destroyed or buried by the 1886 Mount Tarawera eruption; location and survival still disputed.
Plaine de Massenya
Plaine de Massenya is a 2,526,000-hectare Ramsar wetland (site no. 1839) in southwestern Chad's Baguirmi region, a Chari River floodplain depression designated in 2008 with 386 bird species.
Plaines d'inondation des Bahr Aouk et Salamat
The Plaines d'inondation des Bahr Aouk et Salamat is a vast Ramsar wetland in southeastern Chad, designated in 2006 and then the world's third-largest Ramsar site.
Poços de Caldas
Poços de Caldas, a spa city in southern Minas Gerais, Brazil, founded 6 November 1872 around sulfurous thermal springs on an extinct volcanic caldera; known for its hydrothermal heritage complex, Palace Casino era, and high development indices.
Pollardstown Fen
Pollardstown Fen is a spring-fed calcareous fen near Newbridge in County Kildare, Ireland, the largest in the country and a National Nature Reserve, Ramsar site, and Special Area of Conservation.
Prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps
Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps (Pfahlbauten): UNESCO serial property of 111 stilt-house settlement sites, 5000-500 BC, in six Alpine countries, 56 in Switzerland, inscribed 2011 under criteria (iv) and (v).
Preservation in situ of waterlogged archaeological sites
Preservation in situ of waterlogged archaeological sites means leaving organic remains like wood buried in oxygen-poor waterlogged ground, the first option under the 1992 Valletta Convention.
Pui Pui (crocodile)
Pui Pui, female saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus) found in Shan Pui River, Hong Kong, 2003; evaded hunters seven months, captured 2004, resident of Hong Kong Wetland Park since 2006.
Puritama Hot Springs
Puritama Hot Springs (Termas de Puritama) is a set of eight geothermal pools on the Puritama River in Chile's Atacama Desert, near San Pedro de Atacama.
Qeshm Island
Qeshm Island (Jazira-ye Qeshm), the largest island in the Persian Gulf near the Strait of Hormuz, Iran; about 122 km long, home to the Hara mangroves, Qeshm UNESCO Global Geopark, and a free zone; struck by desalination-plant attacks and oil pollution in the 2026 Gulf war.
Rainwater Basin Wetland Management District
The Rainwater Basin Wetland Management District, formerly Hastings Wetland Management District, is a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service unit protecting playa wetlands in south-central Nebraska.
Ramsar Convention
Ramsar Convention (Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitat): 1971 treaty for wetland conservation and wise use, in force 1975, UNESCO depositary, Ramsar List sites, nine criteria, COP15 2025 Victoria Falls.
Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary
Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary, also called Pakshi Kashi of Karnataka, is a Ramsar wetland of islets on the Cauvery River near Srirangapatna, Mandya district. Established in 1940 on Salim Ali's advice, it hosts about 170 bird species, nesting painted storks, and mugger crocodiles.
Rann of Kutch
The Rann of Kutch is a large saline salt marsh in Gujarat, India, extending into Pakistan's Sindh, divided into the Great and Little Rann, flooded each monsoon, a major salt-producing region, and the site of the 1965 India-Pakistan clash settled by the 1968 boundary arbitration.
Reed (plant)
Reed (Phragmites australis), common reed, is a cosmopolitan rhizomatous wetland grass with culms 1–4(–6) m. Native lineages and an invasive European haplotype (M) coexist in North America; it tolerates moderate salinity via leaf osmotic adjustment.
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.
Reichenbach Falls
Reichenbach Falls (Reichenbachfälle) are a seven-tiered, roughly 250 m waterfall above Meiringen, Switzerland, fed by Rosenlaui Glacier meltwater, served by the 1899 Reichenbachfall-Bahn funicular, and famous as Sherlock Holmes's apparent death site in Conan Doyle's 1893 "The Final Problem".
Rhine Falls
Rhine Falls (Rheinfall), waterfall on the Rhine near Schaffhausen, Switzerland; Europe's largest waterfall by volume, not height: 23 m high, 150 m wide, about 600 m³/s in summer, record 1,250 m³/s in 1965.
Riverland
Riverland Ramsar site (site no. 377), a 30,640-hectare wetland along 80 km of the Murray River in South Australia, listed 23 September 1987; meets 8 of 9 Ramsar criteria, supports 20,000+ waterbirds and threatened Murray cod.
Roman Baths (Bath)
Roman Baths (Bath): Roman bathing and temple complex at Aquae Sulis, built 60-70 AD around 45 °C hot springs, rediscovered from 1727, museum since 1897, over 1 million visitors in 2025.
RSPB wetland reserves
RSPB wetland reserves are nature reserves of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds whose principal habitats are wetland, including Minsmere and Lakenheath Fen.