What is a Marsh?

A marsh is a natural community which is known to be very rich in plants and animal life. It may be formed as a result of beaver dams, a river changing its course or even a glacier.

A marsh is a natural community which is known to be very rich in plants and animal life. It may be formed as a result of beaver dams, a river changing its course or even glacier. A fresh water marsh is body of shallow water which is normally having a mud bottom. Salt marshes, on the other hand, form along coastal waters.

The index plants of a fresh water marsh are cattails, rushes as well as sedges. Other plants include water lilies, arrowhead, pickerel, duckweed and even plankton. The index animals are the muskrat and red-winged bird. A wide variety of birds nests in marshes have a fish diet. Amphibians, reptiles, rodents and mammals use a marsh as a source of food and water.

The natural aging of a marsh follow the pattern that if the annual rainfall is sufficient; it will eventually fill in in order to become a wet meadow, then a prairie and finally the shrubs and trees will take over. People often look upon these lovely communities as waste lands or mosquito-infested low waters. Unfortunately, they have been dredged for marinas, used as landfills for trash or drained for farming. Due to people's careless behavior, many species are found to be destroyed.