Why are plants important in wetlands?
The abundance of water in these areas causes water to pool on the surface of the soil, allowing water-tolerant plants to flourish.
How does loss of vegetation affect wetlands?
Surface water erosion and sedimentation In the absence of vegetation, water can move quickly across the land, causing erosion of the topsoil, moving it downstream.
What are the effects of wetlands?
Importance of Wetlands They provide food and habitat for a diverse array of plants and animals, act as buffers to flooding and erosion, and serve as key links in the global water cycle. Because of their sponge-like ability to absorb water, wetlands can slow the momentum of flood waters or of a coastal storm surge.
Why do we need to protect wetlands?
America’s Wetlands Wetlands are important because they protect and improve water quality, provide fish and wildlife habitats, store floodwaters and maintain surface water flow during dry periods.
Why wetlands should not be drained?
Drainage exposes more volume of the soil to oxygen and alters the conditions which led to development of wetland soils. Following drainage, oxygen is rapidly consumed and resupplied by the atmosphere, leading to more rapid chemical changes than those occurring under flooded conditions.
Why do wetlands have a distinct ecosystem?
A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded by water, either permanently or seasonally, where oxygen-free processes prevail. The primary factor that distinguishes wetlands from other land forms or water bodies is the characteristic vegetation of aquatic plants, adapted to the unique hydric soil.
How does the loss of species affect the environment?
At higher levels of extinction (41 to 60 percent of species), the impacts of species loss ranked with those of many other major drivers of environmental change, such as ozone pollution, acid deposition on forests, and nutrient pollution.
How are species richness and ecosystem processes affected?
The new study involved the construction of a data base drawn from 192 peer-reviewed publications about experiments that manipulated species richness and examined the impact on ecosystem processes.
How does marshland reduce the effect of natural diastory?
Reduce the effect of natural diastory : Marshland are natural flood-control agents which acts as sponges to trap the flood water, reduces the speed and slowly distribute them over the floodplain. “Varda Flood 2015” very known keyword to chennai citizens.
How is loss of biodiversity affecting our planet?
“Loss of biological diversity due to species extinctions is going to have major impacts on our planet, and we better prepare ourselves to deal with them,” said University of Michigan ecologist Bradley Cardinale, one of the authors. The study is scheduled for online publication in the journal Nature on May 2.