Overview
select el yunque national rainforest as your wetland that we will dicuss(in puerto rico) "visit" as a physical one. make sure you mention that you visited the wetland in person.
Be able to describe important characteristics of a wetland in context using appropriate terminology
- Demonstrate an understanding of key wetland indicators in the field
- Interpret the factors potentially involved in protecting said wetland and offer some insight in determining possible conservation concerns
- While you are there you will take detailed notes including pictures about the wetland vegetation, soils, water, and human impacts. You will also provide picture documentation of yourself at the site. You will then write a report following the outline provided. The report must be organized into sections labelled with headings matching the outline. Each section should consist of paragraphs describing your field observations, referencing your images as appropriate. The outline describes the content you should include in each section of your report. You must use the headings below (e.g. Introduction) to organize your paper.
- 1.0 Introduction (2 short paragraphs)
- Highlight the importance of wetlands and why they play a critical role within the landscape
- State the name of the site where you made your study
Include a description of the objective of your study (i.e. make a wetland determination and what that involves).
- 2.0 Site Description (1 paragraph)
- Where is it located, and what type of wetland is it? Also mention when (date and
time of day) you made your observations - Include a picture of yourself making the visit
- Take a “big picture” of the site and include it in this section of the report.
Describe the geomorphology and climate of the location
- What is the significance or history of this site?
You may want to consult external references, as appropriate, but cite them
- 3.0 Hydrology (multiple paragraphs)
- Describe what you can about the hydrology of your site (e.g. connections to surface or groundwater, presence or absence of water, percent of site that is covered in water)
- State what indicators of wetland hydrology you see, and describe them.
- Reference and describe your pictures of any visible signs of these indicators
- Which hydrological indicators were missing?
- If your wetland is located in the US, what is the hydrological regime of the wetland? Use the Wetlands Mapper(opens in a new tab) to look up the regime. Simply navigate to your study area, click on the wetlands, and in the pop-up window, click Description. The hydrological (water) regime will be written at the bottom.
Based on this, do you think there is enough evidence to meet the criteria for wetland hydrology? Explain.
- 4.0 Soils (multiple paragraphs)
- Describe what you can about the soil type based on what you can see Note: You are not to disturb public sites in any way; use above ground indicators, if needed.
- If in the US, use the USDA Soil Survey(opens in a new tab) to describe the soils (what Soil Map Units, their major characteristics, such as depth, drainage class, texture, and so forth)
- What are hydric soils, and why are they relevant for wetland determination?
- Which hydric soils indicators are present?
Reference and describe any pictures of soil/indicators.
State what other indicators of hydric soils you would expect to find if you were to look at the soil profile.
- Based on this, do you think there is enough evidence to meet the criteria for hydric soils? Explain.
- Take pictures of and identify the plant species in your wetland. If you cannot identify all species, provide a class (e.g. submerged, emergent) instead.
Which of these species are hydrophytes?
- What wetland plant adaptations can you see?
- Do you notice any other wetland biota, especially wildlife? What did you observe?
Based on this information, does it meet wetland criteria for having a predominance of hydrophytes? (Explain)
6.0 Wetland Determination (1 short paragraph)
- Based on the information above, is your site a wetland? How did you make that determination.
- 7.0 Human Impacts and Conclusion (2 paragraphs)
- To the best of your knowledge, is your wetland naturally occurring or part of a restoration effort? Pictures of the surrounding area may be beneficial to include here.
- What are the human impacts on the wetland? What are potential threats?
- Based on the previous information, what do you think are some of the functions or benefits your particular wetland provides?
What recommendations do you have for this wetland? (e.g. conservation, improvements, management)