What Is A Wetland?

Question 1

What is a wetland?

Answer 1

Land saturated with water long enough to promote aquatic processes related to
-poorly drained soils
-hydrophilic vegetation
-wet adapted biological activities

Question 2

What are the 5 major wetland classes in the Canadian wetland classification system (CWCS)?

Answer 2

Bog
Fen
Swamp
Marsh
Open shallow waters

Question 5

What are the mineral wetlands

Answer 5

Swamps
Marshes
Shallow open waters

Question 6

What are the organic wetlands

Answer 6

Bogs
Fens

Question 7

What do organic and mineral wetlands refer to?

Answer 7

The soil type

Question 8

What’s another word for organic wetlands?

Answer 8

Peatlands

Question 9

Can some mineral wetlands have organic soils?

Answer 9

Yes, deep organic soils

Question 10

What are the different kinds of bogs

Answer 10

Treed
Shrub
Open

Question 11

What are the different kinds of fens

Answer 11

Can be rich or poor, and each of those categories has

Treed
Shrub
Graminoid

Question 12

What kinds of swamps are there

Answer 12

Hardwood
Mixedwood
Shrub
Tamarack
Conifer

Question 13

What are the different types of marsh

Answer 13

Emergent
Meadow

Question 14

Types of shallow open water

Answer 14

Aquatic bed
Mudflats
Open water

Question 15

What are organic soils that are more than 40cm deep indicative of?

Answer 15

Peatlands

Question 16

What do shallow, low nutrient soils less than 40cm deep indicate?

Answer 16

Mineral soil wetlands

Question 17

What are 7 characteristics of mineral wetlands?

Answer 17

1. Less than 40cm of organic deposits
2. Nutrient rich
3. Low porosity
4. High bulk density
5. Low water holding capacity
6. Comprised of sand, silt, or clay
7. Gleyed soils

Question 18

What is gleying?

Answer 18

Water logged blue-grey soil, may have rusty brown mottles

Question 19

Why might gleyed soil have rusty brown mottling?

Answer 19

It’s from the periodic drying of soils as the water table fluctuates. This is typically found near the shallow organic layer.

The periodic drying of anoxic soil causes a conversion to iron oxide in the air pores around plant roots.

Question 20

What is soil gleying exactly?

Answer 20

Happens when soil is saturated by water for a long time. It causes the air pores in the soil to fill with water. In the anoxic environment, the oxygen in the soil is reduced/converted to a soluble state causing the blue-ish grey colour

Question 21

What does red mottled gleying indicate

Answer 21

Fluctuating water table in the root zone of swamps

Question 22

What are the 3 subclasses of organic soils

Answer 22

1. Fibric (least decomposed, fibres intact)
2. Mesic (somewhat decomposed)
3. Humic (most decomposed)

Question 23

What are the 5 characteristics of organic soils?

Answer 23

1. Poorly decomposed organic matter
2. Accumulates over time due to cool wet conditions
3. Acidic
4. Low bulk density
5. High water holding capacity

Question 25

What are 4 characteristics of shallow open water?

Answer 25

-dominated by floating or submerged aquatic plants -less than 25% cover of emergent or woody vegetation -usually inundated or flooded -less than 2m deep

Question 26

What 3 species tend to be present in shallow open water wetlands

Answer 26

-small yellow pond lily -Floating leaf pond weed -bulrush

Question 27

What are 4 characteristics of marshes

Answer 27

-dominated by non-woody vegetation (grasses and sedges, forbs, or emergent plants) -Periodic or persistent standing water less than 1m deep -nutrient rich -tends to be transitional area between open water, swamps, and upland shorelines

Question 28

2 types of marsh

Answer 28

-emergent -meadow

Question 29

What 3 plants might you find in a marsh

Answer 29

-bulrush -spiked water milfoil -bluejoint grass

Question 30

What are two characteristics of swamps?

Answer 30

-dominated by trees -water table fluctuates seasonally

Question 31

In swamps, what two things result from water table fluctuations

Answer 31

-richness in dissolved minerals -periodic drying allows for oxygenated soils and vigorous growth of trees and shrubs