Wetland Ecosystems and Their Relevance to the Environment

As compared to the tropical evergreen forest, wetlands are also one of the most productive ecosystems in the biosphere and make a major contribution to the ecological sustainability of a region. The wetlands maintain biologically diverse communities having both ecological and economic value. Based on the immense environmental and sustainability benefits, wetlands have been demarcated as essential for the future of human existence. The future challenges pertaining to food, clean water and energy security, well-being of humans, natural disaster risk reduction, and climate change resilience can be met by preserving the wetlands. The chapter has an aim to provide insight on the fundamentals like the classifications, major functions, as well as the various factors affecting the wetland ecosystem. Other important aspects like the major threats leading to the loss of the wetlands, consequences of the loss or degradation of wetlands, and ways to preserve the wetlands are discussed.

Plants of Subtropical Eastern Australia

Plants of Subtropical Eastern Australia describes the rich flora of this biogeographically distinct region located on the east coast of Australia, covering the north coast of New South Wales and coastal South-East Queensland. This guide presents a selection of common, threatened and ecologically significant plants found in the region’s major vegetation habitats including rainforest, heathland, grassy forest, wetlands and rock outcrops. More than 500 plants are featured, with photographs and descriptive features enabling the reader to identify these species if encountered. Interesting biological, cultural and historical characteristics of each species are included, along with notes on the plant’s biogeography and a map of its distribution. Suitable for anyone with an interest in plant ecology and botany, Plants of Subtropical Eastern Australia is the definitive guide to this fascinating region of Australia and its unique flora.

A GIS-Assisted Assessment and Attribute-Based Clustering of Forest Wetland Utility in South Korea

The aim of this study was to determine the characteristics of forest wetlands by developing factors for site suitability and applying these factors to 107 sites in South Korea. We developed a forest wetland assessment in a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) environment to assess site suitability. We considered 16 factors including slope, elevation, visibility, land ownership, distance to city, and so on. We conducted an expert survey with experts to analyze the relative importance by using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). We found that the order of importance of the 5 criteria applied in this study was: (1) Natural Ecology, (2) Land Use, (3) Natural Landscape, (4) Tourist Attraction, and (5) Accessibility. We then analyzed the spatial characteristics of each site based on the AHP result and divided the 107 forest wetlands into three categories by cluster analysis. Sites with high scores on the assessment were primarily the landscape ecology or land use criterion. Our differentiation of these forest wetland characteristics could help enable policymakers to develop sustainable management with the aim of balancing conservation with utilization in ecotourism destinations.