Wetlands
Bog-tastic!
Most people think of wetlands as bogs. They think they're yucky smelly places filled with mud, and not much else. That's not true!
Wetlands provide an amazing water filtering system and they prevent floods. They are home to some of our most treasured native species, such as our marathon flying champion the bar-tailed godwit.
After it flies back from Alaska, it returns to our wetlands to have a big feed. During that time it puts on 60-70% of its body weight. You may think there maybe nothing for them to eat.
But no, there’s more to mud than meets the eye
So what does it eat?
Our wetlands are filled with tiny creatures that live beneath the mud, they include –
Wonderful wetlands.
Once upon a time, New Zealand was covered in wetlands. Now, we have only 10% of our original wetlands. These places are so important that governments around the world have gathered together and decided to give some wetlands special status. These wetlands have special protection, so no one can harm them.
Diatoms – these are tiny, tiny plants that crabs , worms and mud snails eat.
Bacteria – these tiny creatures feed on the leafy material from mangroves and rushes. They are eaten by crabs, worms and mud snails too.
Worms – wetland birds such as knots, godwits, spoonbills, stilts, ducks, crakes and herons feed on worms. They have long beaks, specially designed to catch them.
Shellfish and crabs – they bury themselves in the mud so they can hide from their main predators – kingfishers and herons.
There are six different types of wetlands. There are –
Swamps
These are wetlands with a good supply of nutrients which feed tiny plants and animals. They are fed by springs, or by nearby rivers or rivulets. They can be found in basins and valley floors. Some of the plants that grow in swamps are sedge, rush, reed, flax, scrub and even big trees like kahikatea, pukatea and cabbage tree.
Bogs
These wetlands got their bad name because they do not contain many nutrients. They receive all of their water from the rain, rather than from rivers, or groundwater. And this water isn’t as nutritious, because it doesn’t carry minerals, nutrients, or oxygen with it. That’s why some of them smell. They contain mosses, lichens, cushion plants, sedges, grasses, orchids, sphagnum moss, ferns or trees. They can be found in Westland, Chatham Islands and Waikato.
Marshes
These wetlands have soil underneath, rather than peat (partly decomposed plants). They have pretty good drainage. They are fed by streams and rivers, or rivulets. They can be found on gentle slopes.
Fens
These are found in our high country. They contain a lot of peat, and they generally occur on gentle slopes. Like swamps and marshes, they are fed by groundwater and rivers, or rivulets.
Estuaries
This is where end of a river meets the sea. Estuaries were highly valued by Maori as food gathering spots. Lots of shellfish, fish and birdlife can be found in estuaries, so it’s not hard to see why they liked them. Europeans didn’t see estuaries that way – they saw it as unproductive land. They brought soil and filled in the estuaries, so they could create farms and settlements.
It’s hard for a plant to live in an estuary because there’s so much salt. There are some plants that love it though – like salt marsh plants, mangroves and salt meadow plants.
Underground wetlands
These are wetlands under the ground! They are generally found in cave systems, like our Waitomo caves. These creatures and plants are adapted to live in a dark, wet environment. Fungi, microbes and fish species love it down there.
