Wetlands services

Land-use change in the coastal zone has accelerated the rate of pollutant loading for three reasons. First, removal of vegetation mobilizes materials, such as sediment. Second, the emplacement of impervious surfeces, such as roads and roofs, enhances pollutant transport as part of stormwater runoff Third, loss of natural habitats, such as wetlands, eliminates important ecosystem services, such as pollutant uptake and degradation. 

T0158 CH2M Hill, Phytoremediation-Based Systems T0170 Clyde Engineering Service, Metals Removal T0178 Constructed Wetlands—General... 

Shaw, S.P. and Fredine, G.C., 1956. Wetlands of the United States Their extent and their value to waterfowl and other wildlife. U.S. Dept, of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service, Circular 39, Reissued 1971. 

Wetzel, R. G. 2002. Origins, fates, and ramifications of natural organic compounds of wetlands. In Proceedings of a conference on sustainability of wetlands and water resources How well can riverine wetlands continue to support society into the 21st century (M. M. Holland, M. L. Warren, and J. A. Stanturf, Eds.), pp. 183-189. Gen. Tech. Rep. SRS-50, U.S. Dept, of Agriculture, Forest Service, Asheville, NC. 

Tiner, R. W., Jr. Finn, J. T. Status and Recent Trends of Wetlands in Five Mid-Atlantic States Delaware. Maryland. Pennsylvania. Virginia and West Virginia U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Region 5 National Wetlands Inventory Project Newton Comer, MA and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region III Cooperative Publication Phil., PA, 1986 p 40. 

U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service National Wetlands Inventory, St. Petersburg, Florida, 1984. 

Avoided Cost (AC) Services allow society to avoid costs that would have been incurred in the absence of those services flood control avoids property damages, or waste treatment by wetlands avoids health costs. 

Nature provides a number of important services5 free of charge. These are seldom included in economic calculations. Robert Costanza and co-workers have estimated their total value at 33 trillion/yr.6 (The authors emphasize that these figures are preliminary and will require further refinement in the future.) For comparison, the world s gross national product per year is about 18 trillion dollars. The gross annual national product of the United States is 6.9 trillion dollars. The 17 services were estimated for 16 different biomes, including forest, grassland, wetlands, ocean, and so on. They included... 

In order for such recommendations to succeed, a stronger link is needed between science, ecosystems and their services, and society. Greater awareness is needed in the general public of the close ties between healthy ecosystems and healthy human communities, as we have begun to do in the United States with wetland protection. Such an emphasis would seem appropriate given the growing debate about conservation, ecology, and sustainability and the role of ecosystem services (e.g., Kremen 2005). 

Definition Wetlands are lands transitional between terrestrial and aquatic systems where the water table is usually at or near the surface or the land is covered by shallow water. For purposes of this classification, wetlands must have one or more of the following three attributes (i) at least periodically, the land supports predominately hydrophytes, (ii) the substrate is predominately undrained hydric soil, and (iii) the substrate is nonsoil and is saturated with water or covered by shallow water at some time during the growing season of each year. Source Cowardin et al. (1979). U.S. Department of Interior—Fish and Wildlife Service. This definition places emphasis on all three major attributes of wetlands, and is difficult to apply as it requires a comprehensive study of the site. The boundaries identified by this criteria are much more reliable than the EPA definition. 

The Fish and Wildlife Service divides wetland plants into the following groups ... 

List the major groups that the Fish and Wildlife Service use to identify wetland plant species. 

Cowardin, L. M., V. Carter, F. C. Golet, and E. T. LaRoe. 1979. Classification of Wetlands and Deepwater Habitats of the United States. Eish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Department of Interior, Washington, DC. Lewis, W. M. 1995. Wetlands—Characteristics and Boundaries. National Research Council, National Academy Press, Washington, DC. 306 pp. 

Source 1986 National Wetland Plant List U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services. 

Wetlands provide a range of ecosystem services. Those pertinent to biogeochemistry include water quality, accretion of organic matter and associated elements, and carbon sequestration. Wetlands also serve as sources of methane and sources/sinks for nitrous oxide. 

Reed, R. B., Jr. 1988. National List of Plant Species That Occur in Wetlands National Summary. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Washington, DC. Biol. Rpt. 88(24) 244. 

Barras j. a., Bourgeois P. E. and Handley L. R. (1994) Land loss in coastal Louisiana 1956-1990. National Biological Service, National Wetlands Research Center, Open File Report 94-01, 4 p, 10 color plates. 

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