If someone asked you - what is the most obvious way to identify a wetland? - you wouldn’t be alone if your first thought was, well, water.
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But like all the most interesting ecology, it’s just not that simple. Especially in the land of searing drought and pouring rain, where our wetlands are about as predictable as who’ll be our prime minister next week.
In Australia, naturally occurring wetlands often spend a large part of their lives dry. So if wetlands are not always wet, how do we recognise them?
The clue to finding wetlands is in the plants and animals that live there.
Distinctive plants like reeds and sedges are characteristic of wetlands and are adapted to wet soils. You might see trees like paperbarks or red gums, vegetation that enjoys a nice wet drink but also need a dry spell to stay healthy.
Wetland plants and animals are highly specialised for their variable environment. They have become adapted to cope with the wet and dry fluctuations depending on the history of each wetland.
So when we change how often the water is present and how often the dry conditions last, wetlands get into big trouble.
For wetlands to give us all these benefits all we really need to do is look after them.
It was World Wetlands Day recently and with fish deaths making headlines, water is on our mind. So why is it so important to protect our wetlands?
Wetlands help soak up water and reduce large floods. They clean our water and store this essential resource. Their specialised plants store carbon and help manage climate change.
Wetlands support plants and animals that have complex life cycles and need wet and dry periods to survive. Animals like dragonflies have larvae that live as predators in the water until they are ready to hatch into adults that live on land.
For wetlands to give us all these benefits all we really need to do is look after them.
But we are giving our wetlands a hard time.
Through physical damage, water extraction, altering flows, and changing rainfall patterns, we are losing the plants and animals that are sensitive to these changes. The world has lost over 50 per cent of its wetlands since 1900AD so we know we need to take better care of these sensitive habitats.
Each wetland has different needs so it is worth getting to know the different types around you and finding out how to protect them.
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