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32-405: A swamp monster (also variously called a swamp creature , swamp man , or muck monster ) is a fictional or mythological and very mysterious creature imagined to lurk a swamp . Some swamp monsters resemble aquatic creatures, while other swamp monsters resemble aquatic plants and moss . They are generally depicted as fierce and destructive; a confrontation with one presents a lethal hazard. Below

64-583: A classic example of wetland loss from these combined factors. Europe has likely lost nearly half its wetlands. New Zealand lost 90 percent of its wetlands over a period of 150 years. Ecologists recognize that swamps provide ecological services including flood control, fish production, water purification, carbon storage, and wildlife habitats. In many parts of the world authorities protect swamps. In parts of Europe and North America, swamp restoration projects are becoming widespread. The United States government began enforcing stricter laws and management programs in

96-581: A different set of organisms. Saltwater marshes are found around the world in mid to high latitudes , wherever there are sections of protected coastline. They are located close enough to the shoreline that the motion of the tides affects them, and, sporadically, they are covered with water. They flourish where the rate of sediment buildup is greater than the rate at which the land level is sinking. Salt marshes are dominated by specially adapted rooted vegetation, primarily salt-tolerant grasses. Salt marshes are most commonly found in lagoons , estuaries , and on

128-522: A freshwater marsh, the ocean tides affect this form of marsh. However, without the stresses of salinity at work in its saltwater counterpart, the diversity of the plants and animals that live in and use freshwater tidal marshes is much higher than in salt marshes. The most severe threats to this form of marsh are the increasing size and pollution of the cities surrounding them. Ranging greatly in size and geographic location, freshwater marshes make up North America's most common form of wetland. They are also

160-576: A habitat for many species of plants, animals, and insects that have adapted to living in flooded conditions or other environments. The plants must be able to survive in wet mud with low oxygen levels. Many of these plants, therefore, have aerenchyma , channels within the stem that allow air to move from the leaves into the rooting zone. Marsh plants also tend to have rhizomes for underground storage and reproduction. Common examples include cattails , sedges , papyrus and sawgrass . Aquatic animals, from fish to salamanders , are generally able to live with

192-505: A habitat free from fish, which eat the eggs and young of amphibians. An example is the endangered gopher frog . Similar temporary ponds occur in other world ecosystems, where they may have local names. However, vernal pool can be applied to all such temporary pool ecosystems. Playa lakes are a form of shallow freshwater marsh in the southern high plains of the United States. Like vernal pools, they are only present at certain times of

224-457: A low amount of oxygen in the water. Some can obtain oxygen from the air instead, while others can live indefinitely in conditions of low oxygen. The pH in marshes tends to be neutral to alkaline , as opposed to bogs , where peat accumulates under more acid conditions. Marshes provide habitats for many kinds of invertebrates, fish , amphibians, waterfowl and aquatic mammals. Marshes have extremely high levels of biological production, some of

256-921: A period, later described the character's original incarnation as "a regurgitation of Hillman Comics' The Heap", adding that "When I took over that character at Len Wein's suggestion, I did my best to make it an original character that didn't owe a huge debt to previously existing swamp monsters." Other swamp monsters in comics include: Swamp Swamps and marshes are specific types of wetlands that form along waterbodies containing rich, hydric soils. Marshes are wetlands, continually or frequently flooded by nearby running bodies of water, that are dominated by emergent soft-stem vegetation and herbaceous plants. Swamps are wetlands consisting of saturated soils or standing water and are dominated by water-tolerant woody vegetation such as shrubs, bushes, and trees. Swamps are characterized by their saturated soils and slow-moving waters. The water that accumulates in swamps comes from

288-473: A region in the East of England , the embanked marshes are also known as Fens . Some areas have already lost 90% of their wetlands, including marshes. They have been drained to create agricultural land or filled to accommodate urban sprawl . Restoration is returning marshes to the landscape to replace those lost in the past. Restoration can be done on a large scale, such as by allowing rivers to flood naturally in

320-408: A variety of sources including precipitation, groundwater, tides and/or freshwater flooding. These hydrologic pathways all contribute to how energy and nutrients flow in and out of the ecosystem. As water flows through the swamp, nutrients, sediment and pollutants are naturally filtered out. Chemicals like phosphorus and nitrogen that end up in waterways get absorbed and used by the aquatic plants within

352-401: A very low property value compared to fields, prairies , or woodlands . They have a reputation for being unproductive land that cannot easily be utilized for human activities, other than hunting , trapping , or fishing. Farmers, for example, typically drained swamps next to their fields so as to gain more land usable for planting crops, both historically, and to a lesser extent, presently. On

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384-615: Is a large swamp in the western Siberia area of the Russian Federation . This is one of the largest swamps in the world, covering an area larger than Switzerland . The Atchafalaya Swamp at the lower end of the Mississippi River is the largest swamp in the United States . It is an important example of the southern cypress swamp but it has been greatly altered by logging, drainage, and levee construction. Other famous swamps in

416-477: Is a list of the known swamp monsters in folklore and different media appearances. From the 1940s to the present many swamp monsters have been used in comics, an early example being Hillman Publications' the Heap . Afterwards, both DC Comics and Marvel created similar characters: The debuts of the two characters were so close that it is impossible to say which came first. Alan Moore , who worked on Swamp Thing for

448-416: Is dominated by herbaceous plants rather than by woody plants . More in general, the word can be used for any low-lying and seasonally waterlogged terrain. In Europe and in agricultural literature low-lying meadows that require draining and embanked polderlands are also referred to as marshes or marshland. Marshes can often be found at the edges of lakes and streams, where they form a transition between

480-599: The southeastern United States , especially in the Gulf Coast region. A baygall is a type of swamp found in the forest of the Gulf Coast states in the USA. The world's largest wetlands include significant areas of swamp, such as in the Amazon and Congo River basins. Further north, however, the largest wetlands are bogs . Marsh In ecology , a marsh is a wetland that

512-533: The 1970s in efforts to protect and restore these ecosystems. Often the simplest steps to restoring swamps involve plugging drainage ditches and removing levees . Conservationists work to preserve swamps such as those in northwest Indiana in the United States Midwest that were preserved as part of the Indiana Dunes . Swamps can be found on all continents except Antarctica . The largest swamp in

544-629: The United States are the forested portions of the Everglades , Okefenokee Swamp , Barley Barber Swamp , Great Cypress Swamp and the Great Dismal Swamp . The Okefenokee is located in extreme southeastern Georgia and extends slightly into northeastern Florida . The Great Cypress Swamp is mostly in Delaware , but extends into Maryland on the Delmarva Peninsula . Point Lookout State Park on

576-983: The aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems . They are often dominated by grasses , rushes or reeds. If woody plants are present they tend to be low-growing shrubs, and the marsh is sometimes called a carr . This form of vegetation is what differentiates marshes from other types of wetland such as swamps , which are dominated by trees , and mires , which are wetlands that have accumulated deposits of acidic peat . Marshes provide habitats for many kinds of invertebrates , fish , amphibians , waterfowl and aquatic mammals . This biological productivity means that marshes contain 0.1% of global sequestered terrestrial carbon . 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 . Though some marshes are expected to migrate upland, most natural marshlands will be threatened by sea level rise and associated erosion . Marshes provide

608-589: The coasts of East Sumatra, Kalimantan (Central, East, South and West Kalimantan provinces), West Papua, Papua New Guinea, Brunei, Peninsular Malaya, Sabah, Sarawak, Southeast Thailand, and the Philippines (Riley et al. ,1996). Indonesia has the largest area of tropical peatland. Of the total 440,000 km (170,000 sq mi) tropical peat swamp, about 210,000 km (81,000 sq mi) are located in Indonesia (Page, 2001; Wahyunto, 2006). The Vasyugan Swamp

640-627: The fringes of large rivers. The different types are produced by factors such as water level, nutrients, ice scour , and waves. Large tracts of tidal marsh have been embanked and artificially drained. They are usually known by the Dutch name of polders . In Northern Germany and Scandinavia they are called Marschland , Marsch or marsk ; in France marais maritime . In the Netherlands and Belgium, they are designated as marine clay districts. In East Anglia ,

672-447: The highest in the world, and therefore are important in supporting fisheries. Marshes also improve water quality by acting as a sink to filter pollutants and sediment from the water that flows through them. Marshes partake in water purification by providing nutrient and pollution consumption. Marshes (and other wetlands) are able to absorb water during periods of heavy rainfall and slowly release it into waterways and therefore reduce

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704-469: The magnitude of flooding. Marshes also provide the services of tourism, recreation, education, and research. Marshes differ depending mainly on their location and salinity . These factors greatly influence the range and scope of animal and plant life that can survive and reproduce in these environments. The three main types of marsh are salt marshes , freshwater tidal marshes , and freshwater marshes . These three can be found worldwide, and each contains

736-479: The most diverse of the three types of marsh. Some examples of freshwater marsh types in North America are: Wet meadows occur in shallow lake basins, low-lying depressions, and the land between shallow marshes and upland areas. They also happen on the edges of large lakes and rivers. Wet meadows often have very high plant diversity and high densities of buried seeds. They are regularly flooded but are often dry in

768-487: The other hand, swamps can (and do) play a beneficial ecological role in the overall functions of the natural environment and provide a variety of resources that many species depend on. Swamps and other wetlands have shown to be a natural form of flood management and defense against flooding. In such circumstances where flooding does occur, swamps absorb and use the excess water within the wetland, preventing it from traveling and flooding surrounding areas. Dense vegetation within

800-463: The sheltered side of a shingle or sandspit . The currents there carry the fine particles around to the quiet side of the spit, and sediment begins to build up. These locations allow the marshes to absorb the excess nutrients from the water running through them before they reach the oceans and estuaries. These marshes are slowly declining. Coastal development and urban sprawl have caused significant loss of these essential habitats. Although considered

832-526: The southern tip of Maryland contains many swamps and marshes. The Great Dismal Swamp lies in extreme southeastern Virginia and extreme northeastern North Carolina . Both are National Wildlife Refuges . Another swamp area, Reelfoot Lake of extreme western Tennessee and Kentucky , was created by the 1811–12 New Madrid earthquakes . Caddo Lake , the Great Dismal and Reelfoot are swamps centered at large lakes. Swamps are often associated with bayous in

864-492: The summer. Vernal pools are a type of marsh found only seasonally in shallow depressions in the land. They can be covered in shallow water, but in the summer and fall, they can be completely dry. In western North America, vernal pools tend to form in open grasslands, whereas in the east, they often occur in forested landscapes. Further south, vernal pools form in pine savannas and flatwoods . Many amphibian species depend upon vernal pools for spring breeding; these ponds provide

896-618: The swamp also provides soil stability to the land, holding soils and sediment in place whilst preventing erosion and land loss. Swamps are an abundant and valuable source of fresh water and oxygen for all life, and they are often breeding grounds for a wide variety of species. Floodplain swamps are an important resource in the production and distribution of fish. Two thirds of global fish and shellfish are commercially harvested and dependent on wetlands. Historically, humans have been known to drain and/or fill swamps and other wetlands in order to create more space for human development and to reduce

928-447: The swamp, purifying the water. Any remaining or excess chemicals present will accumulate at the bottom of the swamp, being removed from the water and buried within the sediment. The biogeochemical environment of a swamp is dependent on its hydrology, affecting the levels and availability of resources like oxygen, nutrients, water pH and toxicity, which will influence the whole ecosystem. Swamps and other wetlands have traditionally held

960-525: The threat of diseases borne by swamp insects. Wetlands are removed and replaced with land that is then used for things like agriculture, real estate, and recreational uses. Many swamps have also undergone intensive logging and farming, requiring the construction of drainage ditches and canals. These ditches and canals contributed to drainage and, along the coast, allowed salt water to intrude, converting swamps to marsh or even to open water. Large areas of swamp were therefore lost or degraded. Louisiana provides

992-888: The world is the Amazon River floodplain, which is particularly significant for its large number of fish and tree species. The Sudd and the Okavango Delta are Africa's best known marshland areas. The Bangweulu Floodplains make up Africa's largest swamp. The Mesopotamian Marshes is a large swamp and river system in southern Iraq , traditionally inhabited in part by the Marsh Arabs . In Asia, tropical peat swamps are located in mainland East Asia and Southeast Asia. In Southeast Asia, peatlands are mainly found in low altitude coastal and sub-coastal areas and extend inland for distance more than 100 km (62 mi) along river valleys and across watersheds. They are mostly to be found on

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1024-654: The year and generally have a circular shape. As the playa dries during the summer, conspicuous plant zonation develops along the shoreline. Prairie potholes are found in northern North America, such as the Prairie Pothole Region . Glaciers once covered these landscapes, and as a result, shallow depressions were formed in great numbers. These depressions fill with water in the spring. They provide important breeding habitats for many species of waterfowl. Some pools only occur seasonally, while others retain enough water to be present all year. Many kinds of marsh occur along

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