Freshwater Wetland Types

Shallow Open Water

Hydrology

• Generally have water depths of less than 6.6 feet (2 meters)

• Ponds, river oxbows, shallow bay of a lake

Dominant Plant Species

• Submergent, floating and floating-leaved aquatic vegetation including pondweeds, water-lilies, water milfoil, coontail, and duckweeds characterize this wetland type.

Marshes

Hydrology

• Deep marsh plant communities have standing water depths of between 6 inches and 3 or more feet during the growing season

• Shallow marsh plant communities have soils that are saturated to inundated by standing water up to 6 inches in depth, throughout most of the growing season

Dominant Plant Species

• Deep marsh: major dominance by cattails, hardstem bulrush, pickerelweed, giant bur-reed, Phragmites, wild rice, pondweeds and/or water-lilies.

• Shallow marsh: herbaceous emergent vegetation such as cattails, bulrushes, arrowheads, and lake sedges characterize this community.

Inland Fresh Meadows

Sedge Meadows

Hydrology

• Sedge meadows can be supported by groundwater and surface water runoff

Dominant Plant Species

• Sedge meadows are dominated by the sedges (Cyperaceae) growing on saturated soils (Carex dominates)

• Also present are Eleocharis (spike-rushes), Scirpus (bulrushes), …

hummock sedge (Carex stricta), Chippewa County, Wisconsin.

Wet Meadows

Hydrology

• Usually supported by groundwater and surface water runoff

Dominant Plant Species

• hummock sedge (Carex stricta) • lake sedge (Carex lacustris)• Canada bluejoint grass (Calamagrostis

canadensis) • woolgrass (Scirpus cyperinus) • marsh milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) • arrow-leaved tearthumb (Polygonum sagittatum)• water pepper (Polygonum hydropiper)

Wet Prairie

Hydrology

• High groundwater table and, to a lesser extent, surface runoff

Dominant Plant Species

• open, herbaceous plant communities dominated by native grass and grass-like species; at least half of the vegetative cover is made up of true grasses

• similar to fresh (wet) meadows, but are dominated by native grasses and forbs associated with prairies such as prairie cord-grass, big bluestem, gayfeather, New England aster, culver's root, prairie dock and sawtooth sunflower

Calcareous Fens

Hydrology

• Upwelling, calcareous groundwater discharge

• Small, calcareous streams frequently originate in the fen complex due to the groundwater discharge

Dominant Plant Species

• sterile sedge (Carex sterilis)

• beaked spike-rush (Eleocharis rostellata)

• fen beak-rush (Rhynchospora capillacea)

• whorled nut-rush (Scleria verticillata)

• common valerian (Valeriana edulis) twig-rush (Cladium mariscoides)

• white lady-slipper (Cypripedium candidum)

Bogs

Open Bogs

Hydrology

• Ground water sourced with peaty soils saturated to the surface

Dominant Plant Species

• sphagnum mosses (Sphagnum spp.)• bog sedge (Carex oligosperma) • tawny cottongrass (Eriophorum virginicum)• three-way sedge (Dulichium arundinaceum)• leatherleaf (Chamaedaphne calyculata)• bog rosemary (Andromeda glaucophylla)• bog buckbean (Menyanthes trifoliata) • poison sumac (Toxicodendron vernix) • broad-leaved cattail (Typha latifolia)

Pitcher plant

Coniferous Bogs

Hardwood Swamps

Hydrology

• Groundwater discharge (seepages).

Dominant Plant Species

• black ash (Fraxinus nigra), red maple (Acer rubrum), formerly American Elm

• groundlayer dominated by – lake sedge (Carex lacustris), – ostrich fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris) and – marsh marigold (Caltha palustris)– wood reedgrass (Cinna latifolia) – jewelweed (Impatiens capensis)– jack-in-the-pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum) – giant goldenrod (Solidago gigantea)

Floodplain Forests

Hydrology

• Seasonal flood pulses

• Inundated during spring flood events and heavy summer rainfall events

Dominant Plant Species

• silver maple (Acer saccharinum) • wood nettle (Laportea canadensis) • honewort (Cryptotaenia canadensis) • green ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica),• eastern cottonwood (Populus deltoides), • riverbank grape (Vitis riparia), • jewelweed (Impatiens capensis),• stinging nettle (Urtica dioica),