causes and effects of wetland destruction
2013. The contents of My Animals are written for informational purposes. Causes of Environmental Degradation. Science. Wetlands are veritable bastions of biological biodiversity but, unfortunately, human actions have put these ecosystems in the spotlight. Cambridge University Press, New York, N.Y., USA. Due to environmental degradation, the results include water scarcity and decline in quality foods. Res. This is when deterioration occurs by pollution. 1800 Washington Blvd., Baltimore, MD 21230, A Method for the Assessment of Wetland Function, A Comprehensive Nontidal Wetland Watershed Management Plan: A Guide for Local, Wetlands and Waterways Permits Interactive Search Portal. Wave attenuation at a salt marsh margin: A case study of an exposed coast on the Yangtze Estuary. 2007. The ramsar convention. Destruction of wetlands is also detrimental to our region's economy: recreation like fishing, hunting, and wildlife watching generate more than $22 billion annually. Evaluation of ecosystem health for the coastal wetlands at the Yangtze Estuary, Shanghai. Despite all those and other indispensable values, these wetlands are under severe pressure and degradation. Eng. Whittaker, R.H. 1975. Surrounding the Bohai Sea, Northern China, more than 2000km, Between 1780 and 1980, the United States faced extensive loss of its wetlands across the continents; some states lost more than 80% of their wetland coverage (, Dams and reservoirs constructed in rivers have prevented 20% of the global sediment inputs from reaching the coast (, Subsurface mining of oil, gas, and water often accelerate ground compaction and delta sinking, causing frequent flooding. 69 0 obj <>stream Environ. 0000095675 00000 n Brambati A., Carbognin L., Quaia T., Teatini P., and Tosi L. 2003. Habitat Degradation. Pontchartrain Institute for Environmental Sciences, New Orleans, La., USA. The World's Oldest Land Animal is Called Jonathan and Is 190 Years Old, All About Grasshoppers: Reproduction and Birth, The Most Beautiful Dragonflies in the World, 9 Fish that Don't Need a Filter in the Fish Tank, How to Tell the Approximate Age of Your Cat, The Wolf Spider: Habitat, Behavior, and Characteristics. Nat. Acad. Manag. Under storm surge conditions, marsh vegetation can reduce wave energy by 60% (, The vegetated zone can also trap enormous amount of sediments, helping survival of salt marshes with land accretion horizontally and vertically (, The functions and services presented here demonstrate the indispensable value of coastal wetlands. Land Resour. J. Depletion, degradation, and recovery potential of estuaries and coastal seas. What are 3 major causes of degradation and loss of wetlands? Shelf Sci. Available from. 0000089804 00000 n Rapid wetland expansion during European settlement and its implication for marsh survival under modern sediment delivery rates. Nitrous oxide (N. Huang X.W., Wang W., and Dong Y.W. 0000000016 00000 n 0000018452 00000 n It is a critical time to take actions to avoid further loss of this precious ecosystem with many important functionalities, and to restore it wherever possible. Nicholls R.J. and Cazenave A. Geosci. Wetland Extent. Intensive agricultural practices have led to the decline in quality of most of our natural environments. Coast. Geophys. The unplanned conversion of lands into urban settings, mining areas, housing development projects, office spaces, shopping malls, industrial sites, parking areas, road networks, and so on leads to environmental pollution and degradation of natural habitats and ecosystems. Science. Climate change: protect the worlds deltas. Chin. Types of coastal wetlands include: Salt marshes In Maryland, the gradual rise of sea level, approximately 3 to 4 millimeters per year, has the potential to both increase wetland acreage by periodically flooding low-lying uplands and to destroy vegetated wetlands by increasing water depths. Global losses of mangroves and salt marshes. They achieved this by demonstrating the value and importance of wetlands for hundreds of species. World wetland loss and degradation was accelerated in the last three decades, caused by both anthropogenic and natural factors, such as land reclamation, aquaculture, urbanization, harbor and navigation channel construction, decreased sediment input from the catchments, sea level rise, and erosion. Wave attenuation over coastal salt marshes under storm surge conditions. Winter grazing (after seed dispersal and before seedling growth in spring) probably has a low effect on survival and reproduction, although there could be some trampling of rosettes, while spring and early summer grazing probably reduces growth, survival, and reproduction. They can't replace the diagnosis, advice, or treatment from a professional. Wetlands restoration is a major component of the overall Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. The Guardian. The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive understanding of the importance of coastal wetlands, their current status of losses and consequences at different regions, and challenges faced for restoration. PLoS ONE, Leonard L.A. and Croft A.L. Revista Ecosistemas,13(2). Wetlands help prevent erosion in 2 ways: 1) Wetland plants serve as a physical barrier by taking the punishment of the waves crashing into shore or the water running down a hill. Science. Without wetlands, cities have to spend more money to treat water for their citizens, floods are more devastating to nearby communities, storm surges from hurricanes can penetrate farther inland, animals are displaced or die out, and food supplies are disrupted, along with livelihoods. Estuar. Nat. Habitat destruction, defined as the elimination or alteration of the conditions necessary for animals and plants to survive, not only impacts individual species but the health of the global ecosystem. 1996 - 2019 National Geographic Society. Res. Sediment deposition patterns in. 2015. It is widely recognised that wetlands play an important role in the hydrological cycle, influencing groundwater recharge, low flows, evaporation and floods. Overpopulation and Over-exploitation of Resources; . Sonneville, B., and van der Spek, A.J.F. Majority of farmers resort to converting forests and grasslands to croplands which reduces the quality of natural forests and vegetation cover. 2010. JavaScript appears to be disabled on this computer. Improper land use has led to the loss and destruction of millions of acre of natural environments across the globe. Rupprecht F., Mller I., Paul M., Kudella M., Spencer T., van Wesenbeeck B.K., et al. xb`````AXf`8u2 MY9& "]3@Z@aVbu 8C50U0J2JqQ Rasul G., Mahmood A., Sadiq A., and Khan S.I. Their microbial activity enriches the water and soil with nutrients. Clarifying the role of coastal and marine systems in climate mitigation. 2014. Contact Us . Estuar. . , restoration of the Great Lakes will create economic benefits of at least $50 billion and create thousands of jobs. Academic, San Diego, Calif., USA. According to a study about tree density published in Nature, the number of trees worldwide has decreased by 46 percent since the start of civilization. Coastal engineers generally estimate that a 1 foot rise in sea level will cause beaches to erode 0.5 to 1 feet from New England to Maryland, 2 feet along the Carolinas, 1 to 10 feet along the Florida coast, and 2 to 4 feet along the California coast. Maryland's wetlands have been traditionally used for hunting, trapping, fishing, berry and timber harvest, bird watching and livestock grazing. The loss of habitat has far-reaching impacts on the planets ability to sustain life, but even with the challenges, there is hope for the future. Serious consequences have already been caused by the coastal wetland loss, such as coastal flooding, erosion, and biodiversity decrease. 0000097386 00000 n Wetlands restoration is a major component of the overall Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. Gedan K.B., Silliman B.R., and Bertness M.D. 1987. De Vriend H.J., van Koningsveld M., Aarninkhof S.G.J., de Vries M.B., and Baptist M.J. 2015. Ecol. Coast. A wetland is an area of land that is saturated with water and characterized by plants that can tolerate wet soils and low oxygen levels at their roots. 0000009177 00000 n The effect of standing biomass on flow velocity and turbulence in. Salinity influence on methane emissions from tidal marshes. PLoS ONE, Coastal Wetland Planning, Protection and Restoration Act (CWPPR). 2014. Thanks to Michigans wetland protection law, losses have slowed dramatically since 1979. Mangroves and salt marshes protect the coasts and invaluable lives and treasures behind them. Manag. J. Appl. Available from. Geophys. New Orleans population falls 30% in 10 years. Sinking deltas due to human activities. Manage. Why are wetlands disappearing? The destruction of our wetlands. Li X.Z., Ren L.J., Liu Y., Craft C., Mander U., and Yang S. 2014. 200 pp. Hopkinson C.S., Cai W.J., and Hu X.P. 0000008509 00000 n How to Market Your Business with Webinars? How does vegetation affect sedimentation on tidal marshes? This indicator provides a comprehensive look at changes in the acreage of different types of wetlands since the 1950s, and classifies the causes of these changes. Carefully managed and renewed, the wetlands can act in the future as a vital carbon sink and a sponge-like shock absorber for increased water flows. 30 40 Davidson, Nick C. (16 de octubre de 2014). Hallegatte S., Green C., Nicholls R.J., and Corfeemorlot J. 2011. J. Hydro-environ. Co., New York, N.Y., USA. Although these structuress protect property, they can eliminate beaches, particularly bay beaches, which are usually less than 10 feet wide. Macmillan Publ. The data obtained from interviews were concerned with the causes of wetland destruction, condition of wetland and threat to the wetland in Makhitha village. Sci. In part, this has been a result of natural evolutionary processes, but human activities, such as dredging wetlands for canals or draining and filling for agriculture, grazing, or development, share a large part of the responsibility for marsh habitat alteration and destruction. 2015. Approximately half the Nation's original wetland habitats have been lost over the past 200 years. Romero, J., Feijoo, C.G., and Navarrete, P. 2012. 2007. 385 pp. IUCN The World Conservation Union Pakistan Country Office, Karachi, Pakistan. Marine and Freshwater Research(en ingls)65(10): 934-941. Norwegian Institute for Water Research, Bergen N-5006, Norway. J. Meteorol. This means that urgent description of these causes is needed to . 0000002573 00000 n 0 Geology. Coastal wetlands are continuously lost under pressure of several problems such as human activities, lack of data and climate change. Science. Loss of wetlands in the Southwestern United States. FLOW (For Love of Water) Ensuring the waters of the Great Lakes Basin are healthy, public, and protected for all. Howard J., Sutton-Grier A., Herr D., Kleypas J., Landis E., Mcleod E., et al. 2006. The inadequacy basic survival resources and lack of quality of food is the direct result of environmental degradation in the regions. Plant growth in wetlands provides a sink for many chemicals including atmospheric carbon. When a wetland functions properly, it Geosci. However, the global coastal wetlands have diminished rapidly during the past century, especially in the last 50 years, at a rate of 0.5%1.5% per year (, Mangroves faced a global loss of about 50% in the last decades (, Land reclamation has been the main reason of coastal wetland loss in China in the last decades. USA. Clim. An official website of the United States government. Runoffs of agricultural wastes and chemical fertilizers and pesticides into marine and freshwater environments have also deteriorated the quality of wild life habitats, natural water resources, wetlands and aquatic life. Remote sensing monitoring and spatialtemporal variation of Bohai Bay coastal zone. Besides, occurrences such as hurricanes and flooding can wash or force the migration of invasive species into foreign environments which can lead to its eventual degradation. International Science Roundtable for the Media, 4 June 2002, Bali, Indonesia. For example, how to compromise between the different functionalities of coastal wetlands, such as, For vegetation restoration in the tidal zone, it is necessary to consider how the ecosystem will interact with the physical environment. Wetland losses around the world are truly dramatic. Res. Reg. Laffoley, D., and Grimsditch, G.D. 2009. 0000078914 00000 n 1 August 2013. 2012. Salt marsh restoration experience in San Francisco Bay. Nationally, perhaps the highest priority wetland habitat to protect and restore is the coastal wetland. 2014. Along sandy beaches, like wetland shores, property owners often erect these structures to halt erosion. Improve the health of wetlands by planting a buffer strip of native plants. Reduction in water quality is responsible for more than two million deaths and billions of illness annually across the globe. Syvitski J.P.M., Kettner A.J., Overeem I., Hutton E.W.H., Hannon M.T., Brakenridge G.R., et al. Available from. %PDF-1.4 % The cause of the explosion was a gas leak from inside the building, which possibly came from a furnace that was not properly installed by a heating and cooling company, the police department said. Social-economic effects must also be fully considered for successful restoration of coastal wetlands in the future. As a result, this caused the massive disappearance of many wetlands. Tidal wetland stability in the face of human impacts and sea-level rise. 2017. Lett. RT @MDD_KENYA: Moses Kuria through his hired goons is planning to cause mayhem, destruction and deaths in the name of Nairobi traders protecting their businesses. Please enable scripts and reload this page. All rights reserved. (from Wetlands of Maryland, Tiner and Burke, 1995).However, recent trends in federal and State laws governing wetlands have provided for preservation, protection, restoration and creation of wetlands throughtout Maryland. In the past, the societal and ecological value of wetlands were not widely recognized and many wetlands were destroyed. What is the cause of wetland destruction? The agricultural development plans of past times saw certain areas as uninteresting and unnecessary. However, due to unbridled human development, most of the Earths wetlands are at risk or have disappeared.