Marsh

In Europe and in agricultural literature low-lying meadows that require draining and embanked polderlands are also referred to as marshes or marshland.

[5] Moreover, they have an outsized influence on climate resilience of coastal areas and waterways, absorbing high tides and other water changes due to extreme weather.

[5] Though some marshes are expected to migrate upland, most natural marshlands will be threatened by sea level rise and associated erosion.

[5] Marshes provide a habitat for many species of plants, animals, and insects that have adapted to living in flooded conditions or other environments.

Many of these plants, therefore, have aerenchyma, channels within the stem that allow air to move from the leaves into the rooting zone.

[3] The pH in marshes tends to be neutral to alkaline, as opposed to bogs, where peat accumulates under more acid conditions.

[4] Marshes have extremely high levels of biological production, some of the highest in the world, and therefore are important in supporting fisheries.

[6] Marshes (and other wetlands) are able to absorb water during periods of heavy rainfall and slowly release it into waterways and therefore reduce the magnitude of flooding.

These factors greatly influence the range and scope of animal and plant life that can survive and reproduce in these environments.

[3] Salt marshes are dominated by specially adapted rooted vegetation, primarily salt-tolerant grasses.

These locations allow the marshes to absorb the excess nutrients from the water running through them before they reach the oceans and estuaries.

[3] Ranging greatly in size and geographic location, freshwater marshes make up North America's most common form of wetland.

In western North America, vernal pools tend to form in open grasslands,[11] whereas in the east, they often occur in forested landscapes.

[8] Playa lakes are a form of shallow freshwater marsh in the southern high plains of the United States.