What is Marisma? »Its Definition and Meaning [2019]

Marsh is a wetland swamp that is dominated by species of herbaceous plants and not of woody plants.Swamps can often be found at the edges of lakes and streams, where they form a transition between aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems.Often are dominated by grasses , or reeds.If there are woody plants, they tend to be low-growth shrubs.This form of vegetation is what differentiates marshes of other types of wetlands, such as swamps, which are dominated by trees, and peat bogs, which are wetlands that have accumulated deposits of acid peat.

White water lilies are a typical swamp plant in European water areas deeper.Many types of birds nest in marshes.

The marshes provide a habitat for many species of plants, animals and insects that have adapted to live in flood conditions.Plants must be able to survive in mud humid with low oxygen levels.Many of these plants have, therefore, an aerenchyme, channels within the stem that allow air to move from the leaves to the rooting zone.Swamp plants also tend to have rhizomes for underground storage and reproduction.Known examples include cattails, sedges, papyrus and sawgrass. aquatic animals , from fish to salamanders, can usually live with a low amount of oxygen in the water.Some can get oxygen from the air, while others can live indefinitely in conditions of low oxygen .

The marshes provide habitats for many types of invertebrates, fish, amphibians, waterfowl and aquatic mammals The swamps have extremely high levels of biological production, some of the highest in the world, and are therefore important to support fishing .The swamps also better increase water quality by acting as a sink to filter pollutants and sediments from water flowing through them.Marshlands (and other wetlands) can absorb water during periods of heavy rains and slowly release it in water courses and, therefore, reduce the magnitude of flooding. The pH in the marshes tends to be neutral to alkaline, unlike peat bogs, where peat accumulates under more conditions acids.

The marshes differ mainly depending on their location and salinity.Both factors greatly influence the extent of animal and plant life that can survive and reproduce in these environments The two main types of marshes are: Freshwater marshes and salt water marshes .These two can be found worldwide and each contains a different set of organisms.