Blog Post 3: Consequences to Wetlands

Overpopulation has always been causing a major decline in the world’s necessary wetlands.According to dictionary.com, a wetland is defined as “an area of swampy or marshy land, esp[ecially] considered as part of an ecological system.” In addition, it is a “low-lying area of land that is saturated with moisture, especially when regarded as the natural habitat of wildlife. Marshes, swamps, and bogs are examples of wetlands.”

Wetlands are important for many reasons. For starters, wetlands are ecosystems- “ecological commun[ities that come] together with its environment, [to] function as a unit.” For example, wetlands depend on every organism within it from the tiniest bacteria to the animals at the top of the food chain in order for it to thrive and be maintained. In addition, wetlands are “the transitional zones between land and water environments,” (pacificislandtravel.com). Wetlands also help with flood control by collecting excess rainfall and then releasing it slowly over time. Wetlands provide the main area where rice is grown and “coastal wetlands are spawning grounds for commercial fish harvests,” (pacificislandtravel.com).


Reasons for the decline of wetlands:

Around three-quarters of the world’s population live near some type of water such as oceans, rivers, lakes, and many coastal marshes. Therefore, many bogs and wetlands have been filled in, regardless of the consequences in order to meet the demand for buildable land. The more people that overpopulate an area, the more waste products, especially sewage and highway runoff contaminate the remaining wetlands that haven’t been filled in and hurt the ecosystem as well as endanger the wildlife.

Wetlands are often perceived as worthless, mosquito-invested swamps. According to http://www.pacificislandtravel.com/nature_gallery/lossofwetlands.html, “half of the world’s wetlands have already been drained for agricultural use or as building sites. New Zealand has lost 90 percent of it’s marshy terrain, and more than 70 percent of European wetlands have disappeared. Even the immense peat bogs of England and Ireland, once thought to be an inexhaustible source of fuel, are 90 percent depleted.”

Some statistics concerning the wetlands in the U.S. include “more than half of all native wetlands have been drained, filled, or polluted since colonial times. One estimate puts the rate of wetland loss at 60 acres per hour since 1780. One-third of all endangered plants and animals in the U.S. are wetland species,” (pacificislandtravel.com) The Florida Everglades are the wetlands that have been unhealthily tampered with the most in the U.S. “Less than half of the original 4 million acres of marshland remains and most of that is dissected with canals, spillways, and pumping stations.” In addition, “acreage [in the Everglades] that was dried out for agricultural use has lost up to 6 feet of topsoil,”(pacificislandtravel.com).