Water Biomes

Water Biomes

Marshland is covered with grasses, reeds, sedges, and cattails. These
plants all have their roots in soil covered or saturated with water and its
leaves held above water.Marshes may be freshwater or salt. Freshwater marshes
develop along the shallow edges of lakes and slow-moving rivers, forming when
ponds and lakes become filled with sediment. Salt marshes occur on coastal tidal
flats. Inland salt marshes occupy the edges of lakes. They affect the supply of
nutrients, the movement of water, and the type and deposition of sediment.

Salt marshes are best developed on the Atlantic coasts of North America
and Europe. In eastern North America the low marsh is dominated by a single
species, salt-marsh cordgrass. The high marsh consists of a short cordgrass
called hay, spike grass, and glasswort. Glasswort is the dominant plant of
Pacific Coast salt marshes.

Freshwater marshes provide nesting and wintering habitats for waterfowl
and shorebirds, muskrats, frogs, and many aquatic insects. Salt marshes are
wintering grounds for snow geese and ducks, a nesting habitat for herons and
rails, and a source of nutrients for estuarine waters. Marshes are important in
flood control, in sustaining high-water tables, and as settling basins to
reduce pollution downstream. Despite their great environmental value, marshes
are continually being destroyed by drainage and filling.

Marine Life, plants and animals of the sea, from the high-tide mark
alo...

Water Biomes

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