Wetlands Lecture Test 1

Primary indicators of wetland hydrology

• Surface water

• High water table

• Saturation

• Water marks

• Sediment deposits

• Drift deposits

• Algal mat or crust

• Iron deposits

• Inundation visible on aerial imagery

• Water-stained leaves

• Aquatic fauna

• True aquatic plants

• Hydrogen sulfide odor

• Oxidized rhizospheres on living roots

• Presence of reduced iron

• Recent iron reduction in tilled soils

• Thin muck surface

Secondary indicators of wetland hydrology

• Surface soil cracks

• Sparsely vegetated concave surface

• Drainage patterns

• Moss trim lines

• Dry-season water table

• Crayfish burrows

• Saturation visible on aerial imagery

• Stunted or stressed plants

• Geomorphic position

• Shallow aquitard

• Microtopographic relief

• FAC-Neutral test

Primary indicators of hydrophytic vegetation

Dominance test

Prevalence test

Rapid test for hydrophytic vegetation

Morphological adaptations

Indicators of hydric soils

• Redox dark surface

• Redox depressions

• Depleted matrix

• Loamy gleyed matrix

• Sandy gleyed matrix

• Sandy redox

• Stripped redox

• Depleted below dark surface

• Iron mono sulfide

Definition of jurisdictional wetland

Those areas inundated or saturated by surface or groundwater at a frequency sufficient to support, and under normal circumstances do support, a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life
in saturated soil conditions.

What is a marine wetland?

Open ocean overlying the continental shelf and its associated high-energy coastline

What is an estuarine wetland?

Deepwater tidal habitats and adjacent tidal habitats that are usually semi-enclosed by land

What is a riverine wetland?

Wetlands and deepwater habitats contained within a channel

What is a lacustrine wetland?

Wetlands and other deepwater habitats with all the following characteristics: situated in a topographic depression or a dammed river channel, lacking shrubs, trees, persist emergents, etc and total area in excess of 8 ha

What is a palustrine wetland?

All non-tidal wetlands dominated by trees, shrubs, persistent emergents, etc.

Name the 5 wetland systems from the Cowardin 1979 classification

• Marine

• Estuarine

• Riverine

• Lacustrine

• Palustrine

Positive indicators of a hydric soil

Predominantly gray/blue/green directly below A-horizon

Touch test

Munsell color chart

Water table measurements
Redox potential measurements
Reduced Iron (Fe II) measurements

Gleyed

(didn’t see a spot that said “these are the positive indicators” so I made up a list)

The 2 agencies that administer the clean water act

US Army Corps of Engineers

EPA (Environmental Protection Agency)

The oxidation/reduction chemical process (aquatic biochemical process) involved with the development of hydric soils

Soil saturation > anaerobic state > oxygen in pores consumed by soil microbes > oxidation reduction >anaerobic metabolism transform ferrous iron (fe3 yellow, orange, brown color) to fe2(gray, blue, green color), which is a reduced form of oxidized iron >redoximorphic features (mottles)

1. soil saturation

2. anaerobic state

3. oxygen in pores consumed by soil microbes

4. oxidation reduction

5. anaerobic metabolism transform ferrous iron (fe3 yellow, orange, brown color) to fe2 (grey, blue, green color), a reduced form of oxidized iron

6. redoximorphic features (mottles)

What is inundation?

A condition in which water from any source temporarily or permanently covers the land surface

What is ponded?

A condition in which water stands in a closed depression where the water is removed only by percolation, evaporation, or transpiration

Definition of flooded

A condition in which the soil surface is temporarily or seasonally covered in water from overflowing streams or rivers

Definition of saturation

A condition in which all easily drained pores between soil particles are temporarily or permanently filled with water

Definition of hydro-period (or water budget)

The seasonal pattern of the water level of a wetland, its hydrologic signature

Hue, value, and chroma values associated with hydric soils

Depleted Matrix:
Value > or = 5, Chroma < or
= 1
Value > or = 6, Chroma < or
= 2
Value 4, Chroma 1 or 2 with
cd “mottles”
Value 5, Chroma 2 with cd
“mottles”

Gleyed Matrix:
All Gleyed Pages Value > or =
4

??

FAC Neutral test

• Positive when OBL plus FACW plants are greater than FACU plus UPL plants

• Use dominants

• Use non-dominants if dominants are FAC

The major water sources of hydrologic budgets

• Ground water recharge and inflow and surface runoff

• Surface flow, accumulated run of precipitation from watershed

• Flood waters (bankfull discharge)

• Ground water intercepts land surface (springs and seeps)

Four goals of wetland classification

• To describe ecological units that have certain homogenous attributes

• To arrange these units in a unified framework that will aid decisions about use and resource management

• To identify classification units for inventory and mapping

• To provide uniformity in concepts and terminology

Major palustrine wetland types found in Ohio

Emergent

Scrub-shrub

Forested wetlands