Wetlands
A.
- Constant changes in wetlands make them ecologically rich
- They are essential to the life cycle of many plants and animals, some endangered
- Provide a habitat/spawning grounds for a variety of creature and nesting for birds
- Source of harvests of wild rice, furbearing animals, fish and shellfish
- Wetlands are disappearing despite their value
- Wetlands can be found in diverse topographical settings
- Fluctuating water levels are central to all wetlands
- Most wetlands that are formed, people consider economically devastating
- From raging fires burning organic matter and recycling nutrients to hurricanes and high velocity floods spreading out sediments and organic matter to droughts temporarily destroying hydrophytic vegetation and to allow oxidation and compaction of organic soils
- Though all of the damage natural disasters cause, the ecosystem was able to survive
- Wetlands are sensitive to the effects of water-level changes
- Rising and falling water levels also link wetlands to one another as well as other aquatic systems
- They depend on the quantity and quality of the water
- Barriers prevent wetland plants and animals with high aquatic tolerance from migrating up and down gentle slopes
- Fluctuating water levels and intricate relations between wetlands and human development pose serious challenges to any simple wetland policy
- Scientifically sound management of wetlands that satisfies everyone aren't easy to achieve but there are signs of hope
B. Wetlands are a small body of water that a lot of plants and animals depend on. Many species see wetlands as a home, even endangered ones. Even though wetlands are essential to many species's lives, they are also unreliable in how often they form. These wetlands form from surface depression and more importantly, natural disasters. For these wetlands to form, some environments must be destroyed. Wetlands are also unreliable because they are sensitive to the effects of water-level changes. This means that it is very easy to disappear just as they are easy to form. They also depend on the on the quality as well as the quantity of the water. Wetlands are very vulnerable to human activity. It is very easy for us to eliminate these wetlands to build buildings and homes but scientists are working hard to try and get the management of wetlands to be a priority.
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C. Before reading this article, I wasn't educated about wetlands and I wasn't aware that it was they were becoming more scarce because of us humans. This is not surprising to me because humans usually get in the way of everything regarding our environment. We always meddle in things that should be left alone for our own benefit, completely disregarding the environment as well as the the animals that lived in there. As stated in the article, "landowners understandably want to know the exact effect of wetland regulations when they construct a house or road." We are using up to much of our resources and taking over areas that should be left alone. Not all humans, however, are not like this. We are working on a bill that if passed, we would be able to preserve wetlands if another was lost. After reading this article, I was reminded that we as a human race have the responsibility to take care of our earth, and we need to keep the earths land a priority because its our home.
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