20 Things You Didn't Know About ... Swamps

Wetlands aren’t just full of mosquitoes and cattails. They also store carbon, act as storm buffers and boast carnivorous plants

By Gemma Tarlach
May 9, 2017 6:00 AMNov 21, 2019 8:58 PM
swamp - shutterstock
Bald cypress trees and Spanish moss in Caddo Lake, Texas. (Credit: lazyllama/Shutterstock)

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1. Is a swamp any swampier than, say, a marsh or mire? It depends. Some dictionaries and government agencies define swamps as forested.

2. Other institutions get less bogged down in the details and consider any soggy spot a swamp. The preferred general term by researchers, however, whether talking swamp, marsh or mire, is wetlands.

3. Wetlands, generally speaking, are any land where the water table is at or near the surface and the level of water saturation determines the flora and fauna that live there, as well as the substrate, or soil.

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