benefits of wetlands to humans

Published by on November 13, 2020

Erik Kiviat . Wetlands are great filters! Wetland conservation encompasses the protection, enhancement, and use of wetland resources according to principles that will assure their highest long-term social, economic, and ecological benefits. Value of Wetlands A study conducted revealed that the dollar value of our natural ecosystems was approximately US$33T. Wetlands are a habitat for biodiversity. Some of the ecosystem functions of coastal wetlands, such as nutrient and water cycling, can also benefit humans through purifying water, controlling floods, reducing pollution, or simply by providing more pleasing environments for recreation. In the right environment, wetlands can help bring the air temperature down by up to 10 degrees Celsius. This is why wetlands in Texas, North Carolina and Alaska differ from one another. Like your car's brakes, wetlands halt the velocity of floodwaters and help to disperse the excess water. Wetlands can trap these human-induced pollutants and remove them from the water column. Waterbirds and waders rely on wetlands as key stop off points for their long migrations. Some of the most important plants that grow in the wetlands are the cattails, yellow lotus, and arrowheads. Community structure and ecosystem development. Such activities destroy the ecosystem and deprive us of the benefits derived from the wetlands. Bioremediation uses nature to fix nature. Comparison of natural wetlands (a) and human effects on wetlands (b). Benefits of Bioremediation. This enriched material feeds many small aquatic insects, shellfish and small fish that are food for larger predatory fish, reptiles, amphibians, birds and mammals. Wetlands serve as slow releases for excess water and reduce downstream flooding. Wetlands can protect us from flooding by storing rainfall like a sponge, and buffering us from the sea. Wetlands purify our water. In Finlayson CM, Howitz P (eds) Wetlands and human health. When water levels are low, they slowly release it back to us. Climate, landscape shape (topology), geology and the movement and abundance of water help to determine the plants and animals that inhabit each wetland. In the past, people used wetland plants and animals for shelter and food. Swamps, bogs and marshes, as well as the shallow waters of our rivers, creeks, lakes and ponds are wetlands. Start studying Benefits of wetlands. However, when the natural ability of a wetland to function as a filter is overstressed from human inputs, the wetland and its functions can be destroyed. As a consequence, there is less information about the benefits for human health from wetland ecosystem services. Australia's wetlands . Many complex relationships exist in a wetland. Healthy wetlands are generally associated with enhanced ecosystem services and improved outcomes for human health, and unhealthy wetlands with degraded ecosystem services and poor outcomes for human health. Dead plant leaves and stems break down in the water to form small particles of organic material called "detritus." They also filter and clean the water and then feed it into aquifers which keep springs flowing. Salt marshes and other wetlands are also great carbon sinks. Wetlands are indispensable for the countless benefits or “ecosystem services” that they provide humanity, ranging from freshwater supply, food and building materials, and biodiversity, to flood control, groundwater recharge, and climate change mitigation. Some of the environment-influenced traits of material culture are related to shelter, cultivation, travel, burial, and avoidance of biting flies. A watershed is a geographic area in which water, sediments and dissolved materials drain from higher elevations to a common low-lying outlet or basin a point on a larger stream, lake, underlying aquifer or estuary. United States Environmental Protection Agency, Executive Order 11988: Floodplain Management, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). agreeing to use our cookies. This was done by providing a joined-up account and by adopting constructs from ecosystem management, ecological economics, … Such activities destroy the ecosystem and deprive us of the benefits derived from the wetlands. The relative contribution of ES to human resilience outcomes is much harder to assess. Wetlands are as productive as tropical rain forests, acre for acre. It is grown in wetlands across Asia and west Africa. Many human groups build shelters outside wetlands and enter wetlands to harvest resources. Many of the U.S. breeding bird populations-- including ducks, geese, woodpeckers, hawks, wading birds and many song-birds-- feed, nest and raise their young in wetlands. Coastal wetlands are some of the most productive ecosystems on Earth, and generate more than half of commercially harvested seafood in the United States. The benefits on air and water quality, climate change, biodiversity and habitat protection, and human behavior are proven and pronounced. Thus wetlands help to moderate global climate conditions. The benefits of restoration of degraded or destroyed wetlands and creation of new wetlands has only recently been recognized. By filtering water before it can enter creeks, streams and rivers, wetlands work to keep the Chesapeake Bay clean. Benefits of Coastal Wetlands Coastal Wetlands Boost Economy. Natural disturbances. Wetlands' microbes, plants and wildlife are part of global cycles for water, nitrogen and sulfur. When water levels are low, they slowly release it back to us. Economic Benefits of Wetlands Wetlands contribute to the national and local economies by producing resources, enabling recreational activities and providing other benefits, such as … Most wetlands perform multiple functions, but the benefits they are able to provide can be reduced by excessive sediment deposits, invasive species, trash, overgrazing, too much water, ditching (not enough water), logging, saltwater intrusion, etc. Most commercial and game fish breed and raise their young in coastal marshes and estuaries. Estuarine and marine fish and shellfish, various birds and certain mammals must have coastal wetlands to survive. Preserving and restoring wetlands together with other water retention can often provide the level of flood control otherwise provided by expensive dredge operations and levees. In the case of coastal wetlands, many are still cleared for aquaculture (fish and shrimp ponds). Wetlands need an adequate amount and quality of water at the right time to maintain their ecological character1, to sustain nature and to provide water-related ecosystem services and benefits to humans. Resources include food, water, cultivable soils, travel corridors, and refuge from human enemies and … Indeed, an international agreement to protect wetlands of international importance was developed because some species of migratory birds are completely dependent on certain wetlands and would become extinct if those wetlands were destroyed. We’re working and performing research to understand this complex relationship better and discover how we can maximise the benefits that wetlands give people.

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