Wetland ecosystems are transitional habitats between terrestrial and aquatic systems that are characterized by periodic or permanent inundation, hydric soils, and vegetation adapted to water-saturated conditions. They encompass diverse types such as marshes, swamps, bogs, and fens, each defined by hydrological regime, nutrient status, and dominant plant functional groups. Wetlands exhibit high biogeochemical activity, particularly in carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus cycling, driven by redox gradients and microbial processes under anoxic or fluctuating oxygen conditions. They support high biodiversity, act as sinks or sources of greenhouse gases (e.g., CO₂, CH₄, N₂O), regulate hydrology via water storage and attenuation, and are focal systems in research on ecosystem services, climate feedbacks, and landscape connectivity.
Reviving floodplain wetlands slashes carbon emissions by 39% and restores critical ecosystem functions in one year—without the methane spike typically seen in restored peatlands, a new study has found.
Environment
Jul 16, 2025
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For John B. Anderson, the Gulf Coast is personal. The W. Maurice Ewing Professor Emeritus of Oceanography at Rice University spent his early years on Alabama's Fort Morgan Peninsula, where his father was a party boat fisherman. ...
Environment
Jul 10, 2025
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In his speech for the College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources (CAHNR) this past spring, keynote speaker Rodney Butler '99 (BUS), Chairman of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, told an abbreviated version ...
Plants & Animals
Jul 10, 2025
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A large increase in atmospheric methane between 2020 and 2022 raised concerns that tropical wetland emissions had surged in response to a changing climate, but a study led by the University of Michigan shows that this was ...
Earth Sciences
Jul 8, 2025
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Offshore wind farms not only deliver clean energy but can also play a vital role in restoring vulnerable ecosystems both above and below the waterline. This includes seabed habitats, coral reefs, seagrass meadows and coastal ...
Environment
Jul 7, 2025
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The Hadejia Wetlands National Park in northwestern Nigeria is a vital ecological treasure, designated as both a globally important wetland (Ramsar site) and an Important Bird Area, a site recognized internationally for conserving ...
Ecology
Jul 1, 2025
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Scientists have discovered that changes in climate and water levels are reducing the ability of some ecosystems in the Everglades to sequester carbon, while the environmental shifts are enhancing the potential for carbon ...
Earth Sciences
Jun 30, 2025
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Parts of New Orleans and its surrounding wetlands are gradually sinking, and while most of the city remains stable, a new study from Tulane University researchers suggests that sections of the region's $15 billion post-Katrina ...
Earth Sciences
Jun 27, 2025
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106
In many rivers, only a small amount of streamflow remains for nature after water is diverted for hydropower production. In light of climate change and biodiversity loss, this is having increasingly serious consequences. Researchers ...
Environment
Jun 26, 2025
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Researchers have revealed the declining health of coastal marshes several years before visible signs of decline, providing an early warning and an opportunity to protect an ecosystem that serves as the first line of defense ...
Earth Sciences
Jun 23, 2025
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