1. Wetland. Warm Up The answer is:
Come up with a question that has the above answer.

2. Lesson Essential Question
1. What is a wetland?
2. Why are wetlands important to their ecosystem?

3. What is a wetland?

4. What is a wetland?
There are three characteristics that describe a wetland:
Hydrology
There must be water at or near the surface of the land for a designated amount of time.
Soils
Must be hydric or saturated with water to create an anaerobic (oxygen-free environment).
Plants
Must be “wetland plants,” meaning that they require lots of water and the anaerobic conditions that the hydric soil creates. (Smith & Smith, 2001)

5. Water Classification
Wetlands are areas that are covered by water or have waterlogged soils for long periods during the growing season.
Plants growing in wetlands are capable of living in saturated soil conditions for at least part of the growing season.
Sometimes may be unrecognizable as these areas will dry out.
Wetlands are found from the tundra to the tropics and on every continent except Antarctica.

6. Hydrology
Water is at the surface or within the soil root zone during all or part of the growing season

7. Hydric Soil Classification
Soils are characterized by frequent, prolonged saturation and low oxygen content, which lead to anaerobic chemical environments where reduced iron is present.

8. Hydrophylic Plant Classification
Plants adapted for growing in standing water or saturated soils, such as moss, sedges, reeds, cattail and horsetail, rice, mangroves, cypress, cranberries, etc.

9. United State and Wetlands

10. Importance of Wetlands: Hydrologic
Long term and short term water storage
Wetlands protect land from damage caused by flooding, storms and tidal damage

11. Importance of Wetlands: Water Filtration
Wetlands remove nutrients from surface and ground water by filtering and by converting nutrients to forms that won’t harm the environment

12. Importance of Wetlands: Habitat
There are a number of plant and animal species that can only survive in a wetland ecosystem

13. What happens when wetlands are destroyed?
Destruction of wetlands can cause many problems such as:
Increased floods
Water quality problems
Population decrease in plants and animals that live in wetlands

14. Can builders destroy wetlands?
Section 401and 404 of the Clean Water Act require developers that are going to destroy a wetland to do three things:
Avoid changing wetlands when possible
When a wetland is impossible to avoid, they must do as little damage as possible.
If a wetland is destroyed, they must rebuild a wetland in another place unless they pay into a special fund to restore streams and wetlands.

15. Wetland Improvements
Wetland Restoration
Wetland Creation
Wetland Enhancement

16. Wetland Restoration
A degraded wetland or former wetland is returned to its previous condition as much as possible

17. Wetland Creation
A non-wetland area is converted into a wetland

18. Wetland Enhancement
A function of the wetland is improved upon

19. TO DO
P34-40 in soil workbook
Answer Q’s page 46-48