ESRM 472 Wetland Ecology

Term Project

The term project allows you to use information that you have gained from the course and may be able to get from the text and other sources to investigate one of the field trip sites in greater detail. The paper should be based upon information in the literature or online that adds greater detail to the information that you have obtained from field trips. Your paper should be between five and ten pages long. You should describe your site. The history of wetland development at a site might be a good topic; the site could have been farmland that is no longer in agricultural production or an excavated area that has filled in with water. Forested wetlands often develop because logging practices leave a rough surface and block drainage. A good historical narrative would be great.

The relationship between the hydrology of a site and wetland development would also be a good topic. You could describe the hydological pattern, source of water, kind of wetland (riverine impounding, depressional, slope, fringe, etc.) , and how the hydrology affects the soils and the vegetation.

Any analysis of the relationship between hydrology, soils, landform and vegetation would be appropriate. For restored wetlands, you could discuss the design of the wetland, the success of the project, and what functions are performed by the new or improved wetlands.

Choose a wetland, use the language that we are learning in Mitsch and Gosselink, and create a revealing analysis of any one of the sites we visit.