Showing posts with label alders willows. Show all posts
Showing posts with label alders willows. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Trees in Marshes and Swamps

By Liliana Usvat
Blog 227-365

Marsh

A marsh is a type of wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species.Marshes can often be found at the edges of lakes and streams, where they form a transition between the aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. They are often dominated by grasses, rushes or reeds.
 
A marsh, also called a "wetland," is one of our most important habitats. Marshes probably support more life than any other type of habitat. They are also essential to keeping our environment  clean.

The best known characteristic of a wetland, water levels change constantly in a marsh. One or more sources of water feeds a marsh, usually a river or several smaller streams. As water comes into the marsh it settles into the soil and is later absorbed by plants. While most of the marsh remains fairly shallow, it holds some wa

Water-loving shrubs and trees include willows
 

, alders,


 sycamores, 














buttonbush,
 

 and swamp rose. 





You only need to find a dry spot to see the usual grasses, wildflowers, and trees found in other habitats.ter year round.

Swamps
 

If woody plants are present they tend to be low-growing shrubs. This form of vegetation is what differentiates marshes from other types of wetland such as swamps, which are dominated by trees, and mires, which are wetlands that have accumulated deposits of acidic peat.



Coniferous swamps are forested wetlands in which the dominant trees are lowland conifers such as northern white cedar.













 
Mangroves are various types of trees up to medium height and shrubs that grow ... mangrove swamp  Mangroves are various types of trees up to medium height and shrubs that grow in saline coastal sediment habitats in the tropics and subtropics – mainly between latitudes 25° N and 25° S. The remaining mangrove forest areas of the world in 2000 was 53,190 square miles (137,760 km²) spanning 118 countries and territories.














Bald Cypress (Taxodium distichum). Along the edges of strand swamps and in isolated depressions fed by nutrient poor ground water, Pond Cypress (Taxodium ascendans) is most frequently found. Many botanists treat Pond Cypress as a variety of Bald Cypress, instead of as a distinct species, but it differs in ecology.

 
Restoration

Some areas of the world have already lost 90% of their wetlands, including marshes. They have been drained to create agricultural land or filled to accommodate urban sprawl. 

Restoration is the process of returning marshes to the landscape to replace those lost in the past.Restoration can be done on a large scale, such as by allowing rivers to flood naturally in the spring, or on a small scale by returning wetlands to urban landscapes.