Wetlands flora and fauna

First, we will begin by understanding what wetlands are. During the convention of wetlands of international importance, popularly known as Ramsar convention, they defined themselves as all land area that is flooded seasonally or permanently. Within the term wetland, lakes, lagoons, aquifers, streams, rivers, swamps, basles, flood plains, estuaries, salt water, mangroves and more.

From this definition, we can note that the term wetland is very broad and gives rise to a wide variety of Types of wetlands. Let’s see some here:

• Lacustrine wetlands: those areas covered with water permanently and with little circulation. Here lakes and lagoons are included.
• Palustres wetlands: In this case, water accumulation comes from underground sources, rainfall or river contributions. Examples: peat, aquifers, oasis, swamps and more.
• Riverside wetlands: These are the lands close to the rivers that are frequently flooded due to the river overflows. As an example we mention, flood plains, meanders, flooded forests, etc.
• Student wetlands: They are the coastal areas where river water meets marine water. The water of these has a medium salinity. The fjords, deltas, marshes, among others, are example in this type of wetland.
• Marine wetlands: Here the open marine waters are included in shallow and the coastal area affected by the waves.

As can be seen, due to the diversity of wetlands that exist since they are distributed in all latitudes, it is very difficult to determine a single wetland climate or even the same type of flora and fauna that inhabits them. Despite this, we can affirm that its flora and fauna is adapted to the aquatic or aquatic life. To understand it better, in the next sections we will develop more about the flora and fauna of the wetlands and we will see some examples.

If you want to know more about wetlands, we recommend that you visit the article wetlands: what are, types and characteristics.

Geographically speaking, there are wetlands distributed in many parts of the planet. Therefore, the Diversity of his flora It is very varied and depends on the geographical location in question. As a common factor, we can mention that the flora of wetlands, being in flood areas, is adapted to aquatic life. Therefore, these are aquatic or hydrophytic plants. This type of plants can be classified as:

• Floors submerged: As the name implies, they are completely submerged. As an example we mention turtle grass (Thalassia Testudinum) present in marine wetlands.
• Floating plants: They present the free roots submerged in the water. Giant salvinia (Annoying salvinia) It is an example of this type of plants found in palustres wetlands.
• Plants with floating leaves: In this case, the roots of the plants are rooted to the bed and the leaves float on the surface. We can see it in the irrup (Victoria Cruziana) that is found in some lacustrine wetlands of South America.
• Emerging plants: Those plants that are rooted to flooded soil but present the rest of their anatomy out of the water. THE CARRIZO (Phragmites Australis) It is an emerging plant that inhabits stissue and riverside wetlands.

Wetlands are the habitat of a great diversity of animals: from small invertebrates to large mammals. Next, we will mention some of the most amazing animals that live in them.

• Invertebrates: spider (Araneus Granadensis), beetles (Ochthebius spp.), Odonatos (Ischnura spp.), Aquatic insects (Will continue spp.)
• Amphibians: Zarzal frog (Boana Pulchella), Back (CERATOPRHYS Cranwelli), common toad (Rhinella arenarum).
• Fish: farfet (Aphanius Iberus), Sabal it (Prochilodus lineatus), Guapucha (Grundulus Bogotensis), Dwarf Captain (Bogotense Pigidium), Painted catfish (Trichomycterus areolatus), Lamprea (Geotria Australis).
• Reptiles: snake neck turtle (Hilarii phrinops), Yacaré (Caiman Yacare), Sabanera Culebra (Crassicaudatus attractus), Anaconda del Sur (Eunecetes Noteeus).
• Birds: flamenco (Phoenicopterus spp.), Zapador plane (Riparia Riparia), Martín Pescador (Alcedo spp.), Patos (Anatidae family), seagulls (family laridae).
• Mammals: Coipos (Myocastor Coypus), river wolves or neotropical otter (Lontra Longicaudis), Castor (Canadensis Castor), Carpincho (Hydrochaeris Hydrochaeris), Jaguar (Panthera onca), Asian elephant (Elephas Maximus).

If you want to read more articles similar to Wetlands flora and faunawe recommend that you enter our category of ecosystems.