Describe+the+multiple+functions+of+wetland.

Wetlands provide many public benefits such as  Wetlands provide many benefits at very little cost. They produce many natural resources and goods. There are many basic reasons that make wetlands so important. Thee reasons are: 
 * Flood storage
 * Water quality protection
 * Fish and wildlife habitat
 * Groundwater recharge
 * The functions of wetlands and the value of these functions to human society depend on many complex relationships between the wetland and the outer ecosystems in the watershed. __Watershed:__ 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.
 * Commercial and Recreational Values
 * Wetlands provide opportunities for many recreational activities like boating, hiking, hunting, fishing, and bird-watching. All these activities rely on wetlands for use.
 * Coastal wetlands serve as spawning areas and nursery grounds for shellfish and sport and commercial fish. These coastal wetlnds are also habitats for many furbearing mammals that provide for a strong fur market.
 * Wetlands Value as Wildlife Habitats
 * Wetlands support many unique wildlife and vegetation. They are one of the most productive natural ecosystems on the earth. They produce great quantities of plants and some of which could not live anywhere else. Some specific plants are cattails, swamp rose, spider lilies, and cypress trees.
 * Many of the wetland plants provide food, shelter and nesting areas for animals that also live in the wetlands.
 * Many species of invertebrates, amphibians, reptiles, and mammals depend on wetlands for survival.
 * Wetlands Help Maintain Water Quality
 * <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace; color: rgb(0, 64, 255)">Wetlands are natural reservoirs and erosion controllers. They also function as natural sewage systems. When rain sinks into the ground, it is stored in naturally occurring underground depressions. This prevents the water from immediately flowing into streams, rivers, lakes, or the gulf or ocean.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace; color: rgb(0, 64, 255)">Wetlands Help Control Erosion and Flooding
 * <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace; color: rgb(0, 64, 255)">Vegetated wetlands help to hold together banks of lakes, rivers, and the beach rim that are often prone to serious erosion problems. Wetlands also help to prevent and control flooding. When the water levels get high from storms, the heavy spongy vegetaion absorbs the water and slows its flow.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace; color: rgb(0, 64, 255)">Wetlands Act as Storm Buffers
 * <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace; color: rgb(0, 64, 255)">Coastal wetlands next to the Gulf of Mexico serve as a very important storm surge protection function when tropical storms of hurricanes hit. Research shows that for every mile of vegetative wetlands, the storm surge height can be reduced by one foot. Wetlands like brackish marshes, bottomless forests, and barrier islands absorb large amounts of wave energy and hold enormous amounts of water that would otherwise allow the storms to do much more damage on land.

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 * <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace; color: rgb(0, 64, 255)">[[image:http://www.pics4learning.com/catalog/d/dsc000481.jpg width="500" height="375" caption="dsc000481.jpg - Wetlands in Kananaskis"]]

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