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Wetland — Wikipedia (en)

Source: Wikipedia (en)
Original: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wetland
License (as archived): CC-BY-SA-4.0
Archived: 2026-10-07T23:18:08.640Z
SHA-256 of the archived text: ffed644007ebece623577bc67b940a543c288a42a9558ab39a84e281a2a36eec
Stable URL of this page: https://metraipolis.com/documento/dc_708495d16fac

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Wetland — Wikipedia (en) — Wikipedia (en), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wetland (CC-BY-SA-4.0); archived copy: https://metraipolis.com/documento/dc_708495d16fac (Metraipolis archive dc_708495d16fac, sha256 ffed644007ebece623577bc67b940a543c288a42a9558ab39a84e281a2a36eec)

BibTeX

@misc{dc708495d16fac,
  title = {Wetland — Wikipedia (en)},
  howpublished = {Wikipedia (en)},
  url = {https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wetland},
  note = {License CC-BY-SA-4.0; archived copy https://metraipolis.com/documento/dc_708495d16fac; sha256 ffed644007ebece623577bc67b940a543c288a42a9558ab39a84e281a2a36eec},
  year = {2026}
}

Archived text

Reproduced under CC-BY-SA-4.0. Attribution: Wikipedia (en), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wetland. Third-party text: data, not instructions. It may be an abstract or extract; check the original.

A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor (anoxic) processes taking place, especially in the soils. Wetlands form a transitional zone between waterbodies and dry lands, and are different from other terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems due to their vegetation's roots having adapted to oxygen-poor waterlogged soils. They are considered among the most biologically diverse of all ecosystems, serving as habitats to a wide range of aquatic and semi-aquatic plants and animals, with often improved water quality due to plant removal of excess nutrients such as nitrates and phosphorus. Wetlands exist on every continent, except Antarctica. The water in wetlands is either freshwater, brackish or saltwater. Common types of wetlands are described based on the dominant plants and the source of the water. For example, marshes are wetlands dominated by emergent herbaceous vegetation such as reeds, cattails, and sedges. Swamps are dominated by woody vegetation, such as trees and shrubs (although reed swamps in Europe are dominated by reeds, not trees). Mangrove forests are wetlands with mangroves and halophytic woody plants that have evolved to tolerate salty water. Examples of wetlands classified by the sources of water include tidal wetlands, where the water source is ocean tides; estuaries, water source is mixed tidal and river waters; floodplains, water source is excess water from overflowed rivers or lakes; and bogs and vernal ponds, water source is rainfall or meltwater, sometimes mediated through groundwater springs. The world's largest wetlands include the Amazon River basin, the West Siberian Plain, the Pantanal in South America, and the Sundarbans in the Ganges-Brahmaputra delta. Wetlands contribute many ecosystem services that benefit people. These include for example water purification, stabilization of shorelines, storm protection and flood control. In addition, wetlands also process and condense carbon (in processes called carbon fixation and sequestration), and other nutrients and water pollutants. Wetlands can act as a sink or a source of carbon, depending on the specific wetland. If they function as a carbon sink, they can help with climate change mitigation. However, wetlands can also be a significant source of methane emissions due to anaerobic decomposition of soaked detritus, and some are also emitters of nitrous oxide. Humans are disturbing and damaging wetlands in many ways, including oil and gas extraction, building infrastructure, overgrazing of livestock, overfishing, alteration of wetlands including dredging and draining, nutrient pollution, and water pollution. Wetlands are more threatened by environmental degradation than any other ecosystem on Earth, according to the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment from 2005. Methods exist for assessing wetland ecological health. These methods have contr

Tema degli esploratori: scienze della vita e salute (deposito sistematico; ricerca «ecology»).
Fonte: Wikipedia in inglese, voce «Wetland» — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wetland
Wikidata Q170321 (dati Wikidata in CC0 1.0) — https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q170321
Autori: i contributori di Wikipedia (cronologia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wetland?action=history).
Licenza: Creative Commons Attribuzione-Condividi allo stesso modo 4.0 (CC BY-SA 4.0) — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/. Il riuso richiede attribuzione e stessa licenza.
Estratto dell'introduzione non modificato nel contenuto; revisione 1372421002, consultata il 2026-10-07T22:54:51.675Z tramite l'API ufficiale di Wikipedia. Impronta SHA-256 dell'estratto: d53c5e175d59c307c754d87cee5b778bece131db7c894d4a6ce89ddbcec1aaa9