Bio: Wonders of Wetlands

What are the utilitarian benefits and ecosystem services of wetlands?

provisions of wood for lumber, food for people and recreational uses

What is a criterion for having hydric soil?

Presence of soil conditions that are saturated and often gray in color

What is a criterion for having wetland hydrology?

presence of inundation or saturation by water

What is a criterion for having hydrophytic vegetation?

Prevalence of plants typically adapted for wetlands

How do you determine the presence of a wetland?

water is present for at least 2 consecutive weeks

What are three types of wetlands?

Tidal marsh, swamp, scrub-shrub

What are functional characteristics of a wetland?

productivity, colonization, and reproduction

What type of wetland is isolated from rivers and only saturated in springtime?

Vernal pond wetland

What wetland has groundwater emerging above rock strata?

spring and seep wetlands

What wetlands get heavy rains occurring upstream in watershed?

river floodplain wetlands

When do spring tides occur?

moon and sun form a straight line

How do you know if a wetland is inundated on a hydrograph?

Under the 0" line (main line in the graph)

When does hypoxia occur?

nutrients make algae bloom, then die, then are eaten by bacteria and oxygen levels decline and fish die

How does water quality improve in wetlands?

removing nutrients, naturally performing functions, and aerobic and anaerobic processes

What does increasing the surface area of hydrophytes?

Help more oxygen enter their stems

What are pneumatophores?

aboveground structures that are connected underground to roots

What is fluting?

a swollen or large base of a tree

What is multiple trunks?

big opening in a stem through which oxygen can enter

What is buttressing?

folds or undulations in the base of the tree

What happens when ethylene is formed during anaerobic reactions?

Aerenchymatic tissue in stems of some hydrophytes can form

The passage of oxygen through the stems of hydrophytes can be seen in what?

Oxidized rhizospheres

Ecosystems in N America from east to west are predicted by what?

Precipitation

Barrel chest adaptations in the mountains is an adaptation of what?

low oxygen availability

What was the starving time?

low rainfall which meant low food supply for everyone

What is food for mitochondria and bacteria?

Organic Matter

What kingdoms is controlled oxidation of organic matter occur?

animals, plants, and bacteria

What is cell respiration the same as and what does it need?

decomposition and oxygen

what does glucose get converted into?

ATP

What steps are in cell respiration?

GECK (glycolysis, Electron transport chain, Chemiosmotic, Kreb's Cycle)

Energy aerobic organisms obtain from sugar comes from where?

Hydrogen ions through a membrane

What are the 3 parameters of a wetland?

Hydric soil, hydrophytes, and saturation during the growing season

What element is towards the B horizon in wetlands and color change occurs in hydric soil?

Iron

What element is used to accept protons and electrons in a wetland (it's stinky)?

Sulfur

What undergoes erosion, transport, an deposition?

Sediments in flowing water

Salt marshes do not form in what situation?

Along shores near mouths of rivers that are near the sea because they can wash away easily

Where are salt marshes derived from?

Rocks

Why does salt dissolve in water?

Both are polar

What doesn't osmosis do?

diffuses salt across the membrane

What is a response to the salt marshes elevation?

zonation

Where does salt marsh cord grass grow?

creekside

Is plant diversity in salt marshes low or high compared to other wetlands?

low

What are halophytes? What do they do?

hydrophytes that occur in very high salt concentrations. They accumulate salt, waxy leaves, and put salt on surface.

What is organic matter produced by plants in the food chain called?

detritus (dead plant parts)

Where are fresh water marshes located?

where tidal influence is absent but salinity is brackish

What is the productivity of freshwater marshes compared to salt marshes

They are the same

Do freshwater marshes have low or high plant diversity?

High

What is the next step in the food chain after plant production?

detritivores eat detritus

What are the key factors affecting the diversity of freshwater marshes?

range of elevations, lack of salt, seasonal change

What is an Oxbow lake

a floodplain feature that is formed when a river's meander is cutoff and isolated from the river

What is a natural levee?

a floodplain that is along a stream bank and may be so dry that is might not meet the wetland hydrology parameter.

What does the germination of seeds in Deepwater swamps require that lets oxygen reach seeds?

drought

What are the stages in beaver pond chronosequence?

open water, emergent wetland, and scrub-shrub wetland

What is a common tree in a facultative wetland?

Sycamore

What floodplain is flooded slightly longer than 2 consecutive weeks during the growing season?

Bottomland hardwood forested (wetland)

What is pocosin?

A scattered, slow-growing trees with rather low primary production, not in reach of the river

What is a deep water swamp?

A forested wetland with bald cypress and tupelo, but few if any other tree species

What do swamps that get flooded usually receive from rivers?

Magnesium and calcium, that buffers pH

Why is Carolina Bays special?

It is an isolated, forested wetland that may have been formed in response to a meteor shower nearby.

Why are Bogs and fens good for amphibians?

Because the absence of fish means less predation on eggs

Where do Bogs receive water from?

Precipitation

What helps supply nitrogen to some bog plants?

Carnivore

How can healthy swamps reestablish after a forest fire?

Seeds are protected by wet peat

What does wide rings in cedar trees mean?

The swamp was drained which can change the importance aspect of peatland ecology

What have the ditches in the Great Dismal Swamp done?

Helped eliminate all AWC due to hurricanes and fires

What animals live in AWC Swamps?

Alligators, black bears, red wolves, and rattlesnake

What are healthy aspects of AWC Swamps?

grows in stands having just one tree species, named after that one tree species, forms a swamp that is >98% gone, and stores seeds in saturated peat.

Why does peat accumulate in Bogs and AWC swamps?

Primary production>decomposition

What is a structure?

The stuff of nature, what ecosystems are made of (like parts of a car). ex: Presence of water, air or nutrients, fur covering beaver.

What is a function?

What the structures do, the process that occurs (miles the car has traveled). Ex: Respiration, reproduction, nutrients in soil and water, trapping sediment, decomposition, beaver growing

What is an Ecosystem Service?

Things nature does that society needs or wants. Often these are based on the functions (get where you want to go). Ex: Uptake of excess nutrients, Enhancing water quality, biodiversity, carbon sequestration, harvesting Timber.

What is Biomass?

Structured part of ecosystems that can be measured as dry mass per certain area

What is Primary Production?

a functional part of ecosystems

What element makes up 50% of the dry weight of most living things?

Carbon

What do the lighter tree rings represent inside the tree?

Spring Season

What living thing is responsible for decomposition?

Bacteria

What is anoxia?

Absence of oxygen

What does wetlands have that lessen the risk of climate change?

Carbon

What soil horizon are the soil particles stained brown?

A- Horizon

What is the smallest sized mineral component?

Clay

What does the rate of decomposition and primary production do?

organic matter is accumulated in the soil

What is aridosol?

Forms when rates of evaporation exceed precipitation.

What is histosol?

Has considerable downward movement of ground water and common through VA

What is ultisol?

Has a very deep, soft A horizon and is found in prairie states

Where are Dodo's associated?

peatlands, habitats like Tollund Man