Southern Swamps, Marshlands, and Other Wetlands

Southern Swamps, Marshlands, and Other Wetlands serves as an introduction to wetlands of the South. It is written for a nontechnical audience and provides the general public and others with an in-depth examination of their ecology and history and an understanding of their formation, diversity, and importance to people. While loaded with more information than the casual reader usually seeks, it remains a primer rather than an exhaustive treatment of these wetlands, designed to give people with a more serious interest in wetlands a better understanding of Southern wetlands and their history. In ten chapters, Tiner outlines what makes a wetland and why wetlands matter, touching on topics as varied as wetland hydrology, wetland formation, hydric soils, plant and animal adaptations for life in wetlands, saltwater plant communities, freshwater plant communities, wetland functions and values, and wetland conservation in a rapidly changing present.