Includes bibliographical references (249-253) and index.
Contents:
Conclusions -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- What are wetlands? -- Why are wetlands important? -- The Geography of wetlands -- The water cycle -- Evaporation and precipitation -- Transpiration and evaportranspiration -- Climate and the global distribution of wetlands -- Albedo -- The oceans and climate -- The oceanic conveyor belt -- Factors affecting wetland types -- Succession : wetland changes in time -- Conclusions -- 2. Geology and chemistry of wetlands -- The rock cycle -- The nature of water -- Acidity and pH -- Geology and rock weathering -- Particle size -- Erosion and leaching -- Hydrology of wetland catchments -- Hydrology of peat -- Darcy's law -- Geology of wetland catchments -- Lake sediments and their origins -- Peat deposits : origins and contents -- Wetland stratigraphy -- Stratigraphy and climate -- The Younger Dryas event -- Stratigraphy and wetland catchments -- Stratigraphy and archaeology Radiocarbin dating -- Microscopic stratigraphy : diatoms -- Microscopic stratigraphy : pollen -- Pollen grains -- Conclusions -- 4. Conclusions -- What is an ecosystem? -- Energy -- How do wetland ecosystems work? -- Primary productivity of wetlands -- Resource allocation -- Food webs of wetlands -- Decomposition and peat growth -- Limits to peat growth -- Element cycling in wetlands -- Rainfall chemistry -- Acid rain -- Eutrophication -- Vegetation and water cleansing -- Soil chemistry in wetlands -- Nutrient cycling in saline wetlands -- Sediment chemistry and historical monitoring -- Wetlands and the atmosphere -- Global carbon cycle -- Wetlands and the carbon cycle -- Wetlands and methane -- Conclusions -- 4. Different kinds of wetlands -- Shallow freshwater wetlands -- Temperate reed beds and marshes -- Tropical marshes -- Fens -- Aapa mires and string bogs -- Spring mires -- Montane wetlands -- Valley mires -- Temperate swamps -- Tropical swamps -- Pothole mires -- Quaking bogs -- Temperate raised bogs -- Tropical raised mires -- Blanket bogs -- Palsa mires -- Arctic polygon mires -- Inland saline wetlands -- Salt marshes -- Mangrove swamps -- North American wetlands -- Conclusions -- The Conclusions -- The meaning of biodiversity -- Species replacement in succession -- Ecological niche -- Living in the wet -- Microbes in wetlands -- Cyanobacteria -- Submerged plant life -- Aquatic photosynthesis -- Animal life in water -- Hippopotamus -- Animal life above the water -- Aquatic birds : dabblers and divers -- Aquatic birds : fishers in the reeds -- Bitterns -- Animals of the forested wetlands -- Plant life in bogs : bog mosses and lichens -- Lichens -- Plants in bogs : carnivorous plants -- Plant movements -- Plants in bogs : dwarf shrubs and drought -- Why be an evergreen? -- Bog invertebrates -- Bog spiders -- Vertebrates of the bog -- Wetlands and bird migration -- Plant dispersal in wetlands -- The biology of inland saline wetlands -- The biology of coastal wetlands -- Wetlands in drought -- Drought and fire in peatlands -- Conclusions -- 7. The Conclusions -- Coal-forming mires -- Vegetation of the coal swamps -- Wetlands in the pleistocene -- Wetlands in prehistory -- Wetland bronze and iron age settlements -- Wetlands - barriers or highways? -- Wetland exploration - Africa and the Nile -- Livingstone, Stanley, and the Congo -- Wetland exploration - South America -- Wetland exploration - North America -- Wetland exploration - Southern Europe -- Wetlands in literature - idyllic images and moving waters -- The horror of the Swamp Thing -- Bogs and that sinking feeling -- Wetlands and disease - Mosquitoes and malaria -- Conclusions -- 7. The value of wetlands -- Valuation of natural ecosystems -- Food from wetlands -- Water conservation and flood control -- Peatland drainage and agriculture -- Tropical wetland agriculture -- Wetland forestry -- Wetlands and recation -- Peat as an energy resource -- Peat for horticulture -- Conclusions -- 9. Index. Sea levels and wetlands -- Wetland drainage and destruction -- The Everglades -- Wetland pollution by pesticides -- Wetlands as pesticide accumulators -- Wetland pollution by organics and metals -- peat erosion -- Wetland conservation -- Marsh and fen restoration -- Bog rehabilitation -- Restoration of saline wetlands -- Do wetlands have a future? -- Conclusions -- 9. General conclusions -- Glossary -- Further reading -- Web sites -- Index.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.