Wetlands - What are they?
Wetlands are defined as land areas along fresh and salt water courses that are flooded all or part of the time. The waters in these areas can be of fresh, brackish or salty water that are typically shallow, with the majority of the waters being littoral zones. This means that light penetrates the majority of the waterbody down to the sediments. Wetland water bodies are slow moving or stationary. These areas provide a long enough wet period for those plants and animals that are adapted to, and in most cases dependent on, a wet environment for part of their lifecycle to take up a period of residence. Wetlands can be temporary, seasonal or permanent in the environment and can be natural or man made. Natural wetlands include areas such as floodplains, billabongs and permanent freshwater lakes. Man made wetlands include areas such as farm dams.
Wetlands are homes to a number of species that rely on freshwater to complete their life cycles. Species that are associated with wetlands rely on non-turbid waters for such
- Littoral zones are areas of water that are shallow, providing ample amounts of nutrients and light for the animals and plants that inhabit them.
lifestyle activities as feeding, reproduction and refuge. These wetland systems provide many niches for a diverse presence of aquatic species. The Darling River anabranch contains extensive floodplain/wetland zones which today are flooded irregularly. Prior to river regulation, when the rivers carried larger volumes of water, the catchments floodplains and wetlands would of flooded more frequently. Many fauna and flora species occupy wetland systems along the Darling anabranch. Birds, fish, frogs and aquatic invertebrates are some of the fauna that rely on these systems. Fauna that are known to use the wetlands and floodplains of the Darling and its anabranches are listed in the tables on the following page.