This video, we're going to talk about wetlands. And so wetlands are pretty much what they sound like. It refers to land that is wet, or more specifically, it refers to land that is either permanently saturated with water all year round or periodically saturated with water during distinct periods of the year. And that water that it's saturated with can either be stationary or not flowing at all, or it could be very slow moving, very slow flowing water. And that water could either be freshwater or it could be saltwater.

And so really what this means is that there's a lot of diversity when it comes to these wetlands. And so wetlands include these four main types, which are marshes, swamps, bogs, and fens. All of them are going to be land saturated by water, but they're all also going to have their specific characteristics and specific species that they support. Now a characteristic feature of all wetlands is emergent vegetation, and emergent vegetation refers to plants that are growing or emerging above the water surface. Now it's also important to note that the aquatic productivity of these wetlands can actually vary, but often is quite high, and these wetlands support a lot of life.

So this here concludes our brief lesson on wetland.