Read complete books and articles on: Wetlands

Wetlands - low-lying ecosystem where the water table is always at or near the surface. It is divided into estuarine and freshwater systems, which may be further subdivided by soil type and plant life into bogs, swamps, and marshes. Because wetlands have poor drainage, the area is characterized by sluggish or standing water that can create an open-water habitat for wildlife. Wetlands help to regulate the water cycle, filter the water supply, prevent soil erosion, and absorb floodwaters. More significantly, however, wetlands serve as spawning and feeding grounds for nearly one third of the endangered animal and plant species in the United States, and their ecological value in most other countries is comparable.

Many wetlands were destroyed by urban growth and farming before their value was recognized. More than half of U.S. wetlands in the lower 48 states have been lost since colonial times. Federal wetlands policy today is based on the wetlands provisions (1987) of the Clean Water Act. The working concept is that of "no net loss," a concept that has been interpreted in various ways by each federal administration. Although the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has estimated that more than one million acres (about 400,000 hectares) of wetlands were lost in the decade from 1985 to 1995, this assessment was down from nearly 3 million acres (1.2 million hectares) lost in the previous decade, before the wetlands preservation policy was in force. As part of the "no net loss" policy, developers who fill wetlands may create new ones, but a 2001 National Academy of Sciences report found that new wetlands were not always created and when they were they were often of lesser value, both to the environment and to people, than the wetlands they replaced. The report recommended that replacement wetlands be designed to recreate the function of the developed wetlands.

Because of the restrictions wetlands protection can place on development and agriculture, it has become a political battleground between property rights activists and environmentalists. In 2001 the Supreme Court ruled that the Clean Water Act did not authorize federal regulation of so-called isolated wetlands (wetlands that do not abut navigable waters or their tributaries); as much as a fifth of the nation's wetlands are potentially affected by the ruling.

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15 of the Best Books and Articles on: Wetlands

as selected by Questia librarians

1.

Competition for Wetlands in the Midwest: An Economic Analysis » Read Now
by Jon H. Goldstein. 112 pgs.

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2.

The Ecological City: Preserving and Restoring Urban Biodiversity (Includes discussion of wetlands in multiple chapters) » Read Now
by Rutherford H. Platt, Rowan A. Rowntree, Pamela C. Muick. 294 pgs.

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3.

The Physical Geography of Africa (Chap. 15 "Wetlands") » Read Now
by W. M. Adams, A. S. Goudie, A. R. Orme. 434 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

An international team of distinguished scholars have each contributed a chapter to produce an advanced, full length, physical geography of Africa. The first part provides an overview of both pan-Africa patterns in the physical environment and those attributes of African physical geography that are...
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An international team of distinguished scholars have each contributed a chapter to produce an advanced, full length, physical geography of Africa. The first part provides an overview of both pan-Africa patterns in the physical environment and those attributes of African physical geography that are distinctive by considering the development of the main features through time. The authors also provide a synoptic review of Francophone and Anglophone literature on the subject, discuss the present state of knowledge, and set out the work and methods that have created it. This part is followed by a group of chapters that integrate such topics as geomorphology, biogeography, environmental change and hydrology within each of the major biomes - forest, savannah, desert, coast, wetland, mountain, Mediterranean and Rift Valley - found in the African continent. Finally there is a section in which various authors look at topical issues concerned with the impact of human activity on the environment. Conservation and development are considered in the light of issues such as soil erosion, desertification, and biodiversity and biodepletion. The authors have produced this integrated physical geography in honour of A.T. Grove as a durable reference work which gives a new perspective on the continent of Africa.
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4.

Applied Geography: Principles and Practice An Introduction to Useful Research in Physical, Environmental and Human Geography (Chap. 20 "Wetlands Conservation") » Read Now
by Michael Pacione. 634 pgs.

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Applied Geography offers an invaluable introduction to useful research in physical, environmental and human geography and provides a new focus and reference point for investigating and understanding problem-orientated research.
5.

Cultural Resource Management: Archaeological Research, Preservation Planning, and Public Education in the Northeastern United States ("Wetland Ecosystems as Archaeological Resources in the Northeast" begins on p. 20) » Read Now
by Jordan E. Kerber. 288 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

Cultural resource management (CRM) involves research, legislation, and education related to the conservation, protection, and interpretation of historic and prehistoric archaeological resources. Kerber's work is divided into four major categories of discussion: theoretical and interpretive...
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Cultural resource management (CRM) involves research, legislation, and education related to the conservation, protection, and interpretation of historic and prehistoric archaeological resources. Kerber's work is divided into four major categories of discussion: theoretical and interpretive frameworks, research methodology, legislation and compliance, and creative protection strategies. The only volume on CRM in Northeastern America since Spiess's Conservation Archaeology in 1978, its contributors are all major participants in archaeology in the Northeast, which includes the six New England states and New York. Because the volume presents successful models and practical advice concerning CRM, it is relevant to regions other than the Northeast and can be helpful in providing a comparative framework for evaluating programs elsewhere in the United States.
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6.

The Hydrology of the UK: A Study of Change (Chap. 9 "Wetlands") » Read Now
by Mike Acreman. 304 pgs.

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The Hydrology of the UK assesses the changing hydrology of the UK, focusing on key issues that affect the fundamental hydrological processes and have important implications for water resource management, flood risk and environmental quality.
7.

The Physical Geography of North America (Chap. 8 "Wetlands: A Hydrological Perspective") » Read Now
by Antony R. Orme. 551 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

This volume is the second in the UK-originated series, Antony Orme and Andrew Goudie, eds., Physical Environments of the World, following The Physical Geography of Africa (Feb. 1996). The aim of the series is to present a "relatively durable statement of physical conditions on the continents"...
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This volume is the second in the UK-originated series, Antony Orme and Andrew Goudie, eds., Physical Environments of the World, following The Physical Geography of Africa (Feb. 1996). The aim of the series is to present a "relatively durable statement of physical conditions on the continents" written by a team of specialists. In common with the other volumes in the series the book is divided into three parts: (I) systematic coverage of the main components of the physical environment, (II) regional treatment based on the biome concept, and (III) human responses to the physical landscape. The book is intended to fill a void in recent geographic literature by providing an interpretive work that integrates knowledge "across the environment" while placing recent discoveries in a human context. Using tectonism as an example, Orme writes that this topic "will not be viewed as an end in itself, but as a series of processes and crustal adjustments that have significant implication for climate change and plant and animal migrations." The contributing authors are among the most active and best in their fields in the United States and Canada.
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8.

Constructed Wetlands: Borrowing a Concept from Nature, in Environmental Health Perspectives » Read Now
by David J. Tenenbaum. 5 pgs.

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9.

The Migratory Bird Rule after Lopez: Questioning the Value of State Sovereignty in the Context of Wetland Regulation, in William and Mary Law Review » Read Now
by Peter Arey Gilbert. Multiple pgs.

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10.

The Continuing Violations Doctrine and the Clean Water Act: Untenable Solutions and a Need for Reform, in Environmental Law » Read Now
by David S. Foster. 30 pgs.

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11.

Resource Capital Theory and Ecosystem Economics: Developing Nonrenewable Habitats with Heterogeneous Quality, in Southern Economic Journal » Read Now
by Stephen K. Swallow. 18 pgs.

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12.

Property Rights, Regulatory Taking, and Compensation: Implications for Environmental Protection, in Contemporary Economic Policy » Read Now
by Jon H. Goldstein, William D. Watson. 11 pgs.

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13.

Wetlands Explained: Wetland Science, Policy, and Politics in America » Read Now
by William M. Lewis Jr.. 147 pgs.

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This book combines a broad scientific and sociopolitical view of US wetlands, for a wide audience of students and professionals concerned with basic or applied ecology, environmental conservation and policy. Wetland science is a new and rapidly evolving branch of ecosystem science, and wetland...
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This book combines a broad scientific and sociopolitical view of US wetlands, for a wide audience of students and professionals concerned with basic or applied ecology, environmental conservation and policy. Wetland science is a new and rapidly evolving branch of ecosystem science, and wetland regulation is increasingly central to conservation policy. Regulatory initiatives frequently raise unanswered questions, while scientific study supports or calls into question regulatory practice, which occurs in an environment of intense public scrutiny. This primer lays out the science and policy considerations in a format accessible and useful to all who would be involved in wetland ecology, and his book would also serve as a supplementary text for courses on conservation biology, wetlands or environmental policy.
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14.

Environmental Policymaking in Congress: The Role of Issue Definitions in Wetlands, Great Lakes, and Wildlife Policies (Chap. 3 "Dominance Issue Model—the Case of Wetlands") » Read Now
by Kelly Tzoumis. 134 pgs.

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Utilizing current natural resource policies, this work effectively shows how the wetlands fit a dominance model, the Great Lakes is a bounded model, and wildlife is labeled as a valence model. A must read for all interested in congressional policymaking, this book breaks new ground in our understanding of legislative policymaking.
15.

Environmental Management in Practice: Managing the Ecosystem, Vol 3 (Chap. 4 "Wetlands") » Read Now
by B. Nath, L. Hens, P.Compton, D. Devuyst. 298 pgs.

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This volume of Environmental Management focuses on those ecosystems in which human intervention has been or continues to be predominant, specifically within cities and rural areas.