Wetlands: Nature’s Multifaceted Gems
What do wetlands and kitchen items have in common? Wetlands play a vital role in our environment for a number of different reasons, and to help illustrate that concept we’ll be comparing the ecosystem services provided by wetlands to our typical kitchen items and tools to learn just how dynamic and intricate these environments truly are and why they deserve to be protected.
Wetlands act as sponges. Much like a sponge’s ability to soak up water, wetlands help mitigate flooding by absorbing water after a heavy rainfall and then releasing it gradually back into the environment. This is possible thanks to all the dense vegetation with its extensive root systems that hold the soil together, allowing the ground to absorb water without losing soil to erosion, and then gradually release it back into the water table.
Wetlands are like kitchen funnels. Wetlands are able to regulate water flow and maintain ecological balance by funneling and redirecting water from one place to another. Depending on the topography of the land, they can guide water downhill, funnel along river channels, or go through marshy areas on the way to recharging the groundwater supply. Wetlands are connected to groundwater, and whatever happens to wetlands also happens to groundwater.
Wetlands are like coffee filters. Sediments, nutrients, and pollutants are all absorbed by the soil and plant roots of common wetland species, giving us cleaner water in our lakes, rivers and ponds. How much water, you ask? One single acre of a wetland ecosystem one foot deep can hold 330,000 gallons of water!
Wetlands are like a box of cake mix. What do cake mix and wetland environments have in common? Much like how cake mix creates a delectable dessert for all to enjoy, wetlands provide us with essential ecosystem services vital to life on earth and much like the ingredients, you get out of it what you put in. A box of cake mix contains a specific mix of just the right ingredients baked at just the right temperature and time frame, while wetlands teem with life and biodiversity made possible by a careful balance between species.
Wetlands are like an antique etched glass dessert cup. If a priceless antique cup suffers damage, it cannot go back to the way it once was. Once a pristine wetland suffers habitat fragmentation and damage, it cannot easily be put back together either. Wetlands are some of the most biologically productive natural systems in the world, on par with coral reefs and tropical rainforests in their vital support and maintenance of biodiversity. Although they only make up 5% of the contiguous United States, they are home to half of our endangered plant species, 1/3 of our bird species, many of our reptile and mammal species, and all of our amphibian species. 75% of commercially harvested fish are also wetland dependent. They deserve to be protected for their invaluable service to life on Earth.