WETLAND

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does wetland mean? 

• WETLAND (noun)
  The noun WETLAND has 1 sense:

1. a low area where the land is saturated with water

  Familiarity information: WETLAND used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• WETLAND (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A low area where the land is saturated with water

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Hypernyms ("wetland" is a kind of...):

ground; land; soil (material in the top layer of the surface of the earth in which plants can grow (especially with reference to its quality or use))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "wetland"):

bog; peat bog (wet spongy ground of decomposing vegetation; has poorer drainage than a swamp; soil is unfit for cultivation but can be cut and dried and used for fuel)

fen; fenland; marsh; marshland (low-lying wet land with grassy vegetation; usually is a transition zone between land and water)

swamp; swampland (low land that is seasonally flooded; has more woody plants than a marsh and better drainage than a bog)

 Context examples 

So while freshwater wetlands are known to be significant methane sources, their low sulfate concentrations previously led most researchers to conclude that anaerobic oxidation of methane was not important in these regions.

(Methane-eating microorganisms help regulate emissions from wetlands, NSF)

Fruit of the Cranberry plant, a Native American wetland plant, can be consumed whole or made into food products such as jellies and juices.

(Cranberry, NCI Thesaurus)

By analysing the measurements collectively, they found that trees growing in wetland areas of the Amazon subject to seasonal flooding emit 21.2 million tonnes of methane gas to the atmosphere every year.

(Amazon trees are major source of methane emission, SciDev.Net)

M. ulcerans is found in the wetlands of tropical and subtropical countries, causes an ulcerative skin disease known as Buruli ulcer, and there is some evidence that it may be transmitted through the bites of infected aquatic insects.

(Mycobacterium ulcerans, NCI Thesaurus)

Though they occupy a small fraction of Earth's surface, freshwater wetlands are the largest natural source of methane emitted into the atmosphere.

(Methane-eating microorganisms help regulate emissions from wetlands, NSF)

Without this process, methane emissions from freshwater wetlands could be 30 to 50 percent greater.

(Methane-eating microorganisms help regulate emissions from wetlands, NSF)

The researchers report that high rates of anaerobic (no oxygen) methane oxidation in freshwater wetlands substantially reduce atmospheric emissions of methane.

(Methane-eating microorganisms help regulate emissions from wetlands, NSF)

Similarly, with saltwater intrusion into coastal freshwater wetlands, increasing sulfate inhibits microbial methane formation, or methanogenesis.

(Methane-eating microorganisms help regulate emissions from wetlands, NSF)