User talk:Jalcst-9361
From Environmental Technology
Homework #3 Ray Sitkowski
A) The wetlands are considered the transitional link between water and land. Wetland refers collectively to marshes, swamps, bogs and similar areas found between dry land and water along the edges of streams, rivers, lakes, ponds, and coastlines. Although most wetlands have standing or flowing water, many are dry for part of the year. For example, estuarine wetlands that are influenced by the tides may be dry twice a day.
B) Healthy wetlands remove and retain excessive nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, form the water. It not only helps control flooding, but also erosion by storing floodwaters and using its plants to reduce the risk of landslides/erosion. Also it provides a healthy habitat on land and within its waters.
C) In the Bay area, percentage loss is 35%, with the remaining 60% left performing vital functions that benefit water and air quality. There are more than 50 major tree species and more than 2,700 different plant species.
D) The following are functions of forests in the Bay area; protect water quality, create habitat for fish and wildlife, improve air qulaity, encourage recreation, and contribute tot he economy.
E) Plants are the producers otherwise known as aututrophs, whose job it is to provide a primary source of food for all other prganisms. Animals on the other hand are heterotrophs which survive by feeding on plants or other animals. Last but not least we have the decomposers otherwise known as saprotrophs whose job it is to break down dead organic material and return the nutrients back to the Earth.
F) If plankton were removed, then other producers and small consumers would slowly but surely die off creating a chain reaction in the food web. Eventually their would be nothing left for the decomposers to feed on and nurients wouldn't be able to return back to the Earth and the cycle would end.
G) It is also an inland problem due to the polluting of local rivers and streams which tie into inland wetlands. It doesn't seem as a big threat to society now, but in the long run it could ruin parts of our local food webs and eventually become a problem. Yes there are other wetlands that have been affected by pollution and caused problems for many people, one example being the summer of 1993 when the Upper Mississippi and Missouri River Basins flooded due to a lack of wetlands.
