Freshwater inland wetlands are areas of great ecological importance and play a vital role in: hydrological stability and the control of flooding, surface and ground water supply, the recharge and purification of ground water, and in providing a habitat for many forms of animal and plant life.
Through my job as an environmental educator, I have become increasingly interested in inland wetlands, but know little about them. I developed this unit to educate myself so that I could add inland wetland field trips to my already existing ones on coastal and Long Island Sound ecology and also to give other teachers background information so that they can: 1) lead their students in identifying inland wetlands; 2) discuss an inland wetland plant of particular interest, the waterlily, and discuss the formation of calcium oxalate crystals in its leaves; and 3) impress upon students the vital importance of inland wetlands and how they can, as citizens, contact a regulatory agency should a wetland area be threatened. This unit is best used as part of an ecology section in a senior high school biology class.
