Welcome to the world of wetlands…...

Prepare to be amazed!

Canadian Prairie Potholes

• Canada possesses more than 25% of the world’s wetlands.

• Scientists estimate that more than 50% of all the ducks in North America rely on the prairie potholes for survival

• An estimated 60% of the wetlands in the Parkland region alone have disappeared

Marsh Swamp

Bog Fen

Boreal Sedge Fen

Marsh

non-peat wetland emergent reeds, rushes

or cattails highly productive• deep open water zones• provide spawning

grounds for fish• feeding and gathering

areas for migrating waterfowl

Swamp

non-peat wetland dominated by trees or

tall shrub thickets soft maples, cedar, alder,

willow provide habitat for cavity

nesting birds - mergansers, wood ducks

Bog

northern, peat wetland primarily from runoff and

rainfall, very acidic low productivity sphagnum moss, black

spruce, tamarack Bogs are the oldest

wetlands

Fen

peat wetland formed from

groundwater & runoff slightly acidic or alkaline slightly higher

productivity then a bog dominated by sedges contains rare wildflowers

and orchids

Sphagnum Moss

• Cells are filled with gas

• Holds 200 times its own weight in water

• Sinks with age forming peat

• Layer grows 3-7 cm in a century!

Hooded Lady’s-tresses

Orchid

Things you might find in a fen or a bog….

Sedges

Labrador Tea Bog Rosemary

Pitcher Plant

Sundew

In a marsh you will find three varieties of aquatic plants:

1) Emergent

2) Submergent

3) Floating

Other fabulous floaters include:

Common Bladderwort

Common Duck Weed

•Free-floating, non-rooting•Bladders serve as reservoirs•Bladders trap tiny invertebrates

•Rapid reproduction•Used to treat sewage and wastewater•Used to feed fish and other livestock

Other entertaining emergents:

Common Butterwort

•Resembles violet•Found in calcium rich soil•Insect-eating perennial

Yellow Marsh-Marigold•All parts contain poisons•Poultice of leaves to treat warts•Leaves can cause skin to blister

Another super submergent:

Clasping-leaf Pondweed• Perennial• Flowers in dense

staked spike• An important food

source • Provides shelter for

aquatic invertebrates

Purple Loosestrife

• European invasive species

• No nutritional value for native wildlife

• 190 000 hectares affected each year

• Biological controls are being researched

Northern Leopard Frog

Boreal Chorus Frog

Wood Frog

Canadian Toad

I know I look tasty, but you wouldn’t want to eat me. My wart glands produce a mild venom!

Canadian Toad

Boreal Toad

Tiger Salamander

I grow to be quite big (144 mm-180mm) and my appetite is large. I eat small fish, frogs, young

mice and even other salamanders!

What can I find under the water?

Beautiful Backswimmer

• Swims upside-down• Row of hair fringes

collect air• Piercing and sucking

mouth parts• Often confused with

Water Boatman

Water Boatman

• Slender and black with fine yellow lines

• Paddles its long, skinny, oar-like legs

• Eats algae, dead plants and animals

Giant Water Bug • The largest true bugs• Stab and suck prey

juices• In some species

males carry eggs on back

• Use breathing tubes to get air

Great Diving Beetle

• Breaths through spiracles

• Stores air bubbles under wings

• Adults tear up food and eat small pieces

• Strong fliers

Water Strider.

• Also known as “Pond Skater”

• Legs feathery tips hold air bubbles

• Piercing, sucking mouth parts

• Locates prey though water vibrations

Whirligig Beetle• Eyes divided into two

parts (can see above and below water).

• Antennae detect wavelets on water

• Traps bubble of air under abdomen for breathing

• Eats insects from waters surface

What about our feathery friends?

Yeah, what about the Yeah, what about the duckshs?!duckshs?!

Green-winged Teal (male)

• Can you see how we are different in appearance?

Redhead

Canvasback

male

male

Ring-necked Duck (male)

Common Merganser’s

male female

Looking at our bills, what to you think we eat?

American Widgeon (male)

Blue-winged Teal (male)

Ruddy Duck (male)

American Coot

• Check out my feet, their lobed!

• My feet are adapted to help me to glide and push through the water.

Horned Grebe

• My yellow tufts make me look like I have horns.

Osprey

• I love to eat fish!• I dive at fish from the

sky, snatching them up with my large talons.

• In flight my wings are bent.

Piping Plover

• I am endangered. • Be careful of my nests

along the shores of lakes and sloughs in east central Alberta.

• In 1996, there were only 276 of us left!

It is incumbent on us to take special pains……

that all people or as many as possible,

shall have contact with the earth and that the

earth’s righteousness shall be abundantly taught.

-Liberty Hyde Bailey

The End

Northern Bog

Dangling Mosquito Larvae.