What are the key components of wetlands?
- Water frequency and soil saturation
- Presence of hydrophilous species
- Hydromorphic soils: soil or land that has been significantly influenced by the presence of water, leading to unique morphological characteristics
Describe mineral hydromorphic soils
- Composed of <30% organic matter
- Poor to very poor drainage in the top 30cm of mineral soil
- Appearance of gley colours or marked speckles
Difference between organic and mineral soil?
Mineral is from the weathering of rocks. Organic is from sedimentation.
What is Fibrisol mean?
Organic soils form from the mineral surfaces upwards as successive layers of plant residues buildup from the mineral surface due to the oxygen-depleted conditions in wetlands. In the Fibrisols the dominant material in the middle tier of the soil is fibric, composed of largely undecomposed organic material whose botanical origin is readily identifiable. Soils of this great group occur extensively in Canada , particularly in peat deposits dominated by sphagnum mosses. This example has a mineral Cg horizon at its base.
What is Folisol mean?
Folisols are Organic soils composed of thick (> 40 cm) of forest floor (folic) material that accumulate on the mineral surface in wet forests such as those in coastal B.C. and the coastal islands such as Haida Gwaii. The lower two layers in this example are composed of organic material in an advanced state of composition (H horizon) and large pieces of woody material. They are overlain by horizons with little (L) or intermediate (F) levels of decomposition.
What is Mesisol
The middle tier of this soil is composed of partially decomposed organic material (mesic material). The surface layer has less decomposed fibric material. The middle tier (layer) of an organic soil determines its classification at the great group level of the Organic order. This soil also has a mineral (terric) contact with dull colours.
What is Humisol
Soils of this great group have organic materials at the most advanced stage of decomposition in the middle tier. The coarse, fibrous material is almost entirely decomposed and the botanical origin of the material is difficult or impossible to discern. The 3rd edition of the Canadian System of Soil Classification notes that only minor areas of Humisols occur in Canada.
What does Gley mean?
a sticky waterlogged soil lacking in oxygen, typically gray to blue in color.
Reductive Mineral Soils
Gleyed horizon. Presence of almost permanent water, homogeneous
blue, gray, greenish in the first 30 cm.
Redoxic Mineral Soils
Water level variation from fluctuations in the water table.
Apperance of signs of oxidation-reduction in the first 30 cm (speckles)
Sulphur smell in first 30 cm
What does hydromorphic mean?
Soil being morphed by water
What type of organic soil is not hydromorphic?
Follisol. It is considered organic due to climatic conditions and proximity to rock. Not due to flooding.
Organic soils are used when the organic layer reaches __cm in thickness
30
What type of organic soil is this?
Fibric
What type of organic soil is this?
Humic
What organic soil is this?
Mesic
What are mineral soils mostly composed of?
Mineral soils are composed mainly of mineral particles (clays, silts and
sands), which may or may not be accompanied by a more or less marked
stoniness and a small proportion of incorporated organic matter (less
than 30%)
What are the primary indicators of water?
- Flooded
- Saturated with water in the first 30cm
- demarcation lines
- Debris brought in by water
- Deposition of sediments
- Blackish litter
- Rhizosphere effect
- bark
- sulfur smell
Identify this plant: Is it native or invasive?
Black Strangling Vine: Invasive
Identify:
Native or Invasive:
Curly Pond Weed: Invaive
Identify:
Native or Invasive:
European Frog Bite: Invasive
Identify:
Native or Invasive:
Giant Knotweed: Invasive
Identify:
Native or Invasive:
Water Chestnute: Invasive
Identify:
Native or Invasive:
American Mountain Ash: Native
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BC Water Quality Guidelines7
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BC Spill Reporting25
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Southern Manitoba7
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Northeast BC Vegetation159
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Plant Terminology21
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Annacis16
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Fisheries26
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Scotts Fall Dam3
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BC Permits and Best Practices3
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Selenium14
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Underwater Noise18
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FAA2
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BC Invasive Plants14
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BC Provincial Regulations11
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Highway one2
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Birds6
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Archeology in BC24
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Soil Sampling and BC Soil Sampling Guidelines2
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Construction1
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Quebec Study132
