Wetland classification
Encyclopedia
Classification of wetlands has been a problematical task, with the commonly accepted definition of what constitutes a wetland
being among the major difficulties. A number of national wetland classifications exit. In 1970s, the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance introduced a first attempt to establish an internationally acceptable wetland classification scheme.
The wetlands are classified into three major classes:
These are further subdivided by the type of water: fresh
/ saline
/ brackish
/ alkaline; and may be further classified by the substrate type of other characteristics.
are classified according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's National Wetlands Inventory
(NWI).
Wetland
A wetland is an area of land whose soil is saturated with water either permanently or seasonally. Wetlands are categorised by their characteristic vegetation, which is adapted to these unique soil conditions....
being among the major difficulties. A number of national wetland classifications exit. In 1970s, the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance introduced a first attempt to establish an internationally acceptable wetland classification scheme.
Ramsar classification
The Ramsar classification of wetland types is intended as a means for fast identification of the main types of wetlands for the purposes of the Convention.The wetlands are classified into three major classes:
- Marine/coastal wetlands
- Inland wetlands
- Human-made wetlands
These are further subdivided by the type of water: fresh
Fresh Water
Fresh Water is the debut album by Australian rock and blues singer Alison McCallum, released in 1972. Rare for an Australian artist at the time, it came in a gatefold sleeve...
/ saline
Saline water
Saline water is a general term for water that contains a significant concentration of dissolved salts . The concentration is usually expressed in parts per million of salt....
/ brackish
Brackish water
Brackish water is water that has more salinity than fresh water, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing of seawater with fresh water, as in estuaries, or it may occur in brackish fossil aquifers. The word comes from the Middle Dutch root "brak," meaning "salty"...
/ alkaline; and may be further classified by the substrate type of other characteristics.
United States
Wetlands of the United StatesWetlands of the United States
Wetlands of the United States are defined by the United States Army Corps of Engineers and the United States Environmental Protection Agency as "those areas that are inundated or saturated by surface or ground water at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and that under normal...
are classified according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's National Wetlands Inventory
National Wetlands Inventory
In the United States the National Wetland Inventory is a Fish and Wildlife Service program started in the 1970s to inventory and map all wetlands, primarily for scientific purposes. It has since been de-funded and most of its data is outdated. The data and maps it produces have been used to track...
(NWI).