Q: What kind of plant life will
you find in our wetlands?
Floating Plants
• not attached to the bottom. Floating plants come
in sizes from very small to over a foot in
diameter
• Most have roots that hang in the water from the
floating green portions.
Submerged Plants
• rooted plants with most of their vegetative mass below the
water surface
• One discerning characteristic of submerged plants is their
flaccid or soft stems, which is why they do not usually rise
above the water’s surface.
Emergent Plants
• rooted plants often along the shoreline that stand
above the surface of the water.
• The stems of emergent plants are somewhat stiff
or firm.
Q: Where do wetlands occur?
A: In three topographic situations
1 Basin wetlands - develop in shallow basins, form upland depressions to
filled in lakes and ponds; water flow is vertical
2 Riverine wetlands - develop along shallow and periodically flooded
banks of rivers; water flow is unidirectional
3 Fringe wetlands - occur along the coasts of large lakes; water flow is in
two directions
Algae
• very primitive plants. Some algae are microscopic
(planktonic algae), others are thin and stringy or hair-like
(filamentous algae), while still others are large and
resemble higher plants but without true roots (chara).
Q: What kind of animals use/live in Wetlands?
A: Waterfowl, Beaver, Moose
Waterfowl are certain wildfowl of the order
Anseriformes, especially members of the
family Anatidae, which includes ducks,
geese, and swans.
Hydrophytic plants
•
plants adapted to grow in water or on soil that is periodically anaerobic
Obligate
• wetland plants require saturated soils
Facultative
• wetland plant that can grow in either saturated or upland soil
Occasional
• wetland plants that are usually found out of wetland environments but can
Moose use wetlands for abundant water
resources, and ease of travel due to
there long legs. Plants provide the
moose with its sodium requirements,
and as much as half of their diet usually
consists of aquatic plant life.
FUN FACT: The biggest registered Montana moose scored 195 1/8. It had a 55 7/8 inch spread, a
palm 43 1/8 inches long and 15 1/8 inches wide on the right side, slightly smaller on the left, and
bases 7 3/8 inches in circumference. It had 14 points per side, and was taken in Beaverhead
County in 1952.
Beaver ponds, and the wetlands that
succeed them, remove sediments and
pollutants from waterways, including total
suspended solids, total nitrogen,
phosphates, carbon and silicates.
Fun Fact: Largest beaver
dam, a dam near Three
Forks, Montana, with 652
meters (2,140 feet) long,
4.3 meters (14 feet) high
at the highest point, and
seven meters (23 feet)
thick at the base.
•Wetlands are areas where water covers the soil, or is present either at
or near the surface of the soil all year or for varying periods of time
during the year, including during the growing season.
•Water saturation largely determines how the soil develops and the
types of plant and animal communities living in and on the soil.
•Wetlands may support both aquatic and terrestrial species.
•The prolonged presence of water creates conditions that favor the
growth of specially adapted plants and promote the development of
characteristic wetlands soils.
Destruction of Wetlands in the United States.
Not Actual Largest Dam.
tolerate wetlands
May Fishermen’s flies are bases on what
aquatic insects are around at the time.