Any land area that is covered in a shallow layer of water during some or all of the year.

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​Wetlands can be small as a ditch or as big as a state.

​What are wetlands?

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They fill back up during spring & winter rains!​

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​Wetlands can dry up during hot summers.

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​Wetlands are filled by either precipitation or groundwater seeping to the surface.

There are 3 types of basic freshwater wetlands.

• marshes

• swamps

• bogs​

​Have you ever seen one?

​Freshwater Wetlands!

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Marshes are usually treeless and dominated by grasses and other plants.

The Florida Everglades or "Rivers of Grass" are a great example.​

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​Marshes

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A swamp is an area of land permanently saturated, or filled, with water. Many swamps are even covered by water.

Swamps are dominated by trees. They are often named for the type of trees that grow in them!

​Who said, "Get out of my swamp!"?

​Swamps

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​A bog is a freshwater wetland of soft, spongy ground consisting mainly of partially decayed plant matter called peat.

Bogs are generally found in cool, northern climates.

They often develop in poorly draining lake basins created by glaciers during the most recent ice age.

​What do you think it would be like to walk on/in a bog?

​Bogs

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A pocosin is a wetland bog with sandy peat soil and woody shrubs throughout.
The word "pocosin" is of Native American origin, specifically from the Algonquian language, and it means "swamp on a hill."
Characterized by their saturated, acidic, and nutrient-poor soils. They are often dominated by evergreen shrubs.
Found in the southeastern United States, particularly in North Carolina, Virginia, and parts of other southeastern states.

​A Pocosin

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​Coastal wetlands include saltwater and freshwater wetlands located within coastal watersheds.

​Coastal Wetlands

Salt marshes are coastal wetlands that are flooded and drained by salt water brought in by the tides

​Salt Marshes

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Mangrove swamps are coastal wetlands found in tropical and subtropical regions. They are characterized by salt-loving trees & shrubs.

​Mangrove Swamps

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Mangroves are tropical plants that are adapted to loose, wet soils, salt water and being periodically submerged by tides.

​Have you ever been to Florida and seen these?

​Mangroves

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​Wetlands are important because....

​They provide habitats, shelter, filter water, and absorb extra runoff (control flooding)!