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Conservation of wetlands in drylands: a key global issue

Conservation of wetlands in drylands: a key global issue W.D. WILLIAMS* Department of En6ironmental Biology, Uni6ersity of Adelaide, Adelaide 5005, Australia KEY WORDS: arid; biodiversity; conservation; drylands; semi-arid; wetlands; Convention on Biological Diversity; Diversitas; Ramsar Convention INTRODUCTION Wetlands here are taken to be inland bodies of shallow standing water that are either fresh or saline (salinity \3 g L − 1), permanent or temporary. The supralittoral and littoral zones of large lakes are not excluded. No reference is made to the presence of macrophytes, a presence often included in definitions of wetlands (e.g. Hejny and Segal, 1998); many dryland wetlands lack macrophytes either because of high salinity or because water is present too infrequently (episodically). The absence of Pleistocene glaciation in most drylands means that almost all water bodies there are relatively shallow. Many general accounts of wetlands indicate that most of the world’s wetlands occur in northern and well-watered regions (e.g. Mitsch, 1998) and point to their paucity in dry regions (i.e. hyper-arid to sub-humid regions)— so-called drylands. Such accounts, however, while valid in a general sense, fail to recognize the greater diversity of wetland types in drylands, and the high number and wide distribution there of wetlands, which, although often dry, either seasonally or episodically http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems Wiley

Conservation of wetlands in drylands: a key global issue

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References (9)

Publisher
Wiley
Copyright
Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
ISSN
1052-7613
eISSN
1099-0755
DOI
10.1002/(SICI)1099-0755(199911/12)9:6<517::AID-AQC383>3.0.CO;2-C
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

W.D. WILLIAMS* Department of En6ironmental Biology, Uni6ersity of Adelaide, Adelaide 5005, Australia KEY WORDS: arid; biodiversity; conservation; drylands; semi-arid; wetlands; Convention on Biological Diversity; Diversitas; Ramsar Convention INTRODUCTION Wetlands here are taken to be inland bodies of shallow standing water that are either fresh or saline (salinity \3 g L − 1), permanent or temporary. The supralittoral and littoral zones of large lakes are not excluded. No reference is made to the presence of macrophytes, a presence often included in definitions of wetlands (e.g. Hejny and Segal, 1998); many dryland wetlands lack macrophytes either because of high salinity or because water is present too infrequently (episodically). The absence of Pleistocene glaciation in most drylands means that almost all water bodies there are relatively shallow. Many general accounts of wetlands indicate that most of the world’s wetlands occur in northern and well-watered regions (e.g. Mitsch, 1998) and point to their paucity in dry regions (i.e. hyper-arid to sub-humid regions)— so-called drylands. Such accounts, however, while valid in a general sense, fail to recognize the greater diversity of wetland types in drylands, and the high number and wide distribution there of wetlands, which, although often dry, either seasonally or episodically

Journal

Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems – Wiley

Published: Nov 1, 1999

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