What are they?
Are zones in which water is the principal factor that determines the nature of both plant and animal life.
In wetlands, the water level is high and covers, or nearly covers, the ground. The water can be fresh or salt, it can exist at various depths and can be permanently or temporarily in place. These characteristics make wetlands the meeting ground of both aquatic and terrestrial life.
Wetlands are places of exceptional beauty and extraordinary productivity: habitats of diverse plant and animal species.
There are three main characteristics of wetlands: aquatic plants, hydric soil (saturated with water) and aquatic conditions (the factors that account for the water in the first place).
Types of Wetlands
There are both natural and man-made wetlands. Among the natural types are: lakes, oases, rivers, estuaries, mangroves and coral reefs
In general, there are five principal types of wetlands:
Marine: Consisting of coasts and coral reefs.
Estuary: Deltas and Mangrove Swamps.
Lacustrine: Lakes.
Riparian: Rivers and streams.
Marsh: Salt Marshes, Bogs and Swamps.
Some man-made wetlands include irrigation canals, dams, water-treatment areas, millponds, salt mines and canals.
Advantages of Wetlands
Wetlands are a fundamental, long-term source of potable water. They are called the kidneys of the planet.
Wetlands regulate the flow of water, slowly releasing the torrents of the rainy season and providing water for the dry season.
Wetlands become sources of food and water for all sorts of animals. Some fish live their entire life cycle in these sanctuaries and the cattle industry depends on wetlands for watering the herds. Wetlands are also the natural habitat of rice.
These precious areas also have played a role in developing economic policy, given their essential use in fish harvesting and ecotourism.
Wetlands also have microclimatic and macroclimatic benefits.
Costa Rica has many wetlands in different regions of the country, seven of that are so internationally important that they are known as Ramsar Sites (named after the Iranian city in which the Convention on Wetlands was adopted in 1971). The Ramsar Convention was the first modern, inter-governmental treaty on the conservation and rational use of natural resources.
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