WEBVTT - Wetlands! Wetlands! Wetlands! 0:00:00.560 --> 0:00:04.800 Do Do Do. We'll have a book coming out and 0:00:04.920 --> 0:00:07.040 we would love it if you bought it, That's right, 0:00:07.080 --> 0:00:09.840 that'd be great. It's called Stuff you Should Know colon 0:00:11.320 --> 0:00:15.440 and that's it, just colon, Okay. Uh, well, I think 0:00:15.440 --> 0:00:17.000 there's a little bit more to it, and I'll be 0:00:17.040 --> 0:00:19.000 the one to say it. Then. It's called an Incomplete 0:00:19.040 --> 0:00:22.680 Compendium of mostly interesting Things and the title is just 0:00:22.760 --> 0:00:25.880 a flat outlie because it's all interesting, Chuck, it is, 0:00:25.920 --> 0:00:27.960 and it's a really fun book. We're really proud of it. 0:00:27.960 --> 0:00:32.200 It's got great illustrations from our new friend Carlie Minardo. Uh. 0:00:32.200 --> 0:00:34.280 It was co written with us with a great guy 0:00:34.360 --> 0:00:37.239 named Nils Parker, and the team all came together to 0:00:37.280 --> 0:00:40.279 produce something that we're just super super proud of. That's right. 0:00:40.440 --> 0:00:43.159 So you can order it everywhere you buy books. Pre 0:00:43.320 --> 0:00:48.360 order now and we appreciate you. Welcome to Stuff you 0:00:48.360 --> 0:00:57.520 Should Know, a production of My Heart Radios How Stuff Works, Hey, 0:00:57.640 --> 0:01:01.800 and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh and there's Charles 0:01:01.920 --> 0:01:04.440 and Jerry's over there, and this is Stuff you Should Know, 0:01:05.400 --> 0:01:13.760 The Dripping Wet edition in these wet Lands. What I 0:01:13.840 --> 0:01:15.640 knew that you would not get that is that a 0:01:15.720 --> 0:01:19.039 Seeger reference. Oh gosh, why do you have to say 0:01:19.040 --> 0:01:23.240 seeker when you always mean Springsteen? Was that Springsteen? It's 0:01:23.520 --> 0:01:29.360 bad lands? Okay, baby, These wetlands are born to run. Sure, 0:01:30.080 --> 0:01:34.960 run water. I don't. I don't like myself anymore. Run water. 0:01:35.080 --> 0:01:39.160 That was a great save, Chuck. So we're talking wetlands. 0:01:39.160 --> 0:01:41.680 I have to say, um, we have to give a 0:01:41.680 --> 0:01:46.040 shout out to Tom Peterman, the foul Mouth wetland biologist 0:01:46.120 --> 0:01:48.600 who keeps asking us to do this episode. How was 0:01:48.640 --> 0:01:52.080 that where this came from? It was Tom peterman suggestion, 0:01:52.120 --> 0:01:55.200 although I had already wanted to do it anyway. So yeah, 0:01:55.200 --> 0:01:57.600 I mean, we love our scienist man. This one was 0:01:58.320 --> 0:02:02.200 I was just smiling from ear to ear. Can you 0:02:02.240 --> 0:02:07.600 imagine watching a Blacksmith Ford something in a wetland, in 0:02:07.640 --> 0:02:14.959 a flooded woodland? Just Nirvana right there? Really, So we're 0:02:15.000 --> 0:02:18.440 talking wetlands everybody, And um Dave Russ helped us put 0:02:18.440 --> 0:02:21.959 this one together. And Dave likes to pop in jokes 0:02:22.000 --> 0:02:25.240 every once in a while, and he said does He said, um, 0:02:25.320 --> 0:02:29.000 what makes a wetland wet water? And then he says, 0:02:29.120 --> 0:02:33.320 in all seriousness, that's basically that the water has to 0:02:33.400 --> 0:02:37.200 be um largely present at least some parts of the 0:02:37.320 --> 0:02:40.200 year in the soil in such amounts that you would 0:02:40.240 --> 0:02:42.440 call something wet land. I mean, think of the name 0:02:42.560 --> 0:02:48.160 wet land. It's about his earthy a term as science gets. Yeah, 0:02:48.240 --> 0:02:50.919 and he um front loaded this with a few stats, 0:02:51.080 --> 0:02:52.560 and I won't go through all of them, but I'll 0:02:52.560 --> 0:02:56.640 go through a few that, uh kind of are instructive 0:02:56.639 --> 0:03:00.440 as to why I love wetland so much. Uh. Years. One, 0:03:00.919 --> 0:03:03.399 Although wetlands make up only five percent of the land 0:03:03.440 --> 0:03:06.239 surface of the the United States, they are home to thirty 0:03:07.200 --> 0:03:11.360 of our plant species. Yeah, not bad. One third of 0:03:11.400 --> 0:03:15.760 America's threatened or endangered species species live only in wetlands. 0:03:16.200 --> 0:03:18.799 I would propose that that's slightly misleading. I think they're 0:03:18.919 --> 0:03:22.600 endangered because they live in wetlands, and wetlands are endangered, 0:03:22.639 --> 0:03:26.880 as we'll see. Hmmmm, think about it, Chuck, I don't know. 0:03:26.960 --> 0:03:30.200 I took it more as like they're all hiding out 0:03:30.200 --> 0:03:32.960 in the wetlands because it's a terrible place to hide out. No, 0:03:33.120 --> 0:03:35.360 it's not bad because it's got thirty one of the 0:03:35.360 --> 0:03:38.400 plant species. I mean, it's a pretty rich, bio diverse 0:03:39.120 --> 0:03:42.080 area to live in. If you're an endangered species for sure. 0:03:42.960 --> 0:03:48.200 All right, well, we'll have to um hear from Thomas 0:03:48.240 --> 0:03:51.400 Peterman the foul Mouth Wildlife for wetland biologists who can 0:03:51.480 --> 0:03:53.560 let us not What does he say, like do f 0:03:53.760 --> 0:03:57.040 and wet lands already? Yes, that kind of thing. Yeah, 0:03:57.880 --> 0:04:01.360 I like this guy. I think that's an exact quote. Yeah, 0:04:01.360 --> 0:04:05.040 he's my kind of dude. Uh So another stat that 0:04:05.080 --> 0:04:07.680 I thought was pretty interesting that well, well just kind 0:04:07.680 --> 0:04:10.640 of needs to form the basis or the undercurrent of 0:04:10.680 --> 0:04:13.920 this whole episode, is that, so we keep talking about 0:04:13.960 --> 0:04:15.760 the U S. There's wetlands found all over the world, 0:04:15.800 --> 0:04:18.880 of different types of varieties and different climates and different 0:04:19.000 --> 0:04:22.760 um different continents, every continent except the Antarctica. But in 0:04:22.800 --> 0:04:25.800 the United States in particular, we have a long history 0:04:25.800 --> 0:04:30.400 of filling in and draining wetlands for other purposes, so 0:04:30.480 --> 0:04:34.560 much so that, um, let's see, I believe I don't 0:04:34.560 --> 0:04:37.279 know how much we've lost, but in the sixteen hundreds, 0:04:37.279 --> 0:04:40.200 the Lower forty eight States were covered with two hundred 0:04:40.240 --> 0:04:43.520 and twenty million acres of wetlands, which is eleven percent 0:04:43.600 --> 0:04:46.280 of the total surface area of the Lower forty eight States. 0:04:46.800 --> 0:04:49.360 And I think starting in the fifties, we were doing 0:04:49.400 --> 0:04:52.039 away with wetlands at a rate of about sixty thousand 0:04:52.120 --> 0:04:55.240 of those acres per year. Yeah, and it's gotten better 0:04:55.279 --> 0:04:58.200 since then. But yeah, in the boy up until the 0:04:58.200 --> 0:05:00.880 Clean Water Act, it was just like, hey, you know, 0:05:00.920 --> 0:05:05.799 it looks great. They're a resort with like three golf 0:05:05.800 --> 0:05:08.919 courses and a bunch of tennis. That's been such a 0:05:09.080 --> 0:05:11.760 driving force, Like it's it's like looking at land or 0:05:11.800 --> 0:05:15.440 ecosystems are being like our humans making money off of it. No, well, 0:05:15.480 --> 0:05:17.960 then drain it and repurpose it. Set it on fire 0:05:17.960 --> 0:05:21.040 and repurpose it. Stop it from burning, and repurpose it. Like, 0:05:21.080 --> 0:05:22.960 if we can't make money off of it, it can't 0:05:22.960 --> 0:05:26.680 possibly be useful. And luckily, since the environmental movement really 0:05:26.720 --> 0:05:30.440 started in the seventies, we've realized that that's not necessarily true. 0:05:30.520 --> 0:05:33.479 That even if you are just a heartless dummy, there's 0:05:33.520 --> 0:05:37.000 still a lot of benefits that humanity has given from 0:05:37.080 --> 0:05:42.479 things like wetlands that seem problematic or nonproductive. You know. Yeah, 0:05:42.520 --> 0:05:45.480 that was one of danger fields big lines in Caddyshack, 0:05:45.720 --> 0:05:51.479 as al servit was golf courses and cemeteries the two 0:05:51.480 --> 0:05:55.440 biggest waste of prime real estate. That's a good one. 0:05:55.680 --> 0:05:57.800 So let's talk about wetlands. He said that they are 0:05:57.960 --> 0:06:00.960 only some of them are only wet for short periods, 0:06:00.960 --> 0:06:03.840 sometimes when there's snow, melts or just rain. Yeah, those 0:06:03.880 --> 0:06:06.600 are called ephemeral wetlands, which is a cool term. It's 0:06:06.600 --> 0:06:09.760 a great term. Some are wet all the time. And 0:06:10.160 --> 0:06:12.720 the key parts of being a wet land or the 0:06:12.760 --> 0:06:17.960 key characteristic is that it's either permanently or periodically flooded 0:06:18.080 --> 0:06:23.240 or wet, and that the soil is got it's called 0:06:23.320 --> 0:06:26.920 hydric soil and is dominated by anaerobic processes, meaning it 0:06:26.960 --> 0:06:30.640 loves water and the plants there love water. But which 0:06:30.680 --> 0:06:33.159 is weird because you used another word that shouldn't really 0:06:33.240 --> 0:06:36.359 jibe with plants, and that's called anaerobic, which means there's 0:06:36.640 --> 0:06:40.159 very little to no oxygen present um. And we'll explain 0:06:40.200 --> 0:06:42.640 why later. But the fact that there are plants means 0:06:42.680 --> 0:06:45.320 that those plants have adapted to the wetlands. Yes, and 0:06:45.320 --> 0:06:49.760 its hydrophytic, and we'll talk about those plants later. It's 0:06:49.800 --> 0:06:52.520 it's another Another thing I love about wetlands is just 0:06:52.640 --> 0:06:56.719 that it really underscores the remarkable evolution that something will 0:06:56.720 --> 0:07:00.760 go through to survive, very cool, very very awesome. Yep 0:07:00.839 --> 0:07:03.919 so Um, there's also so but you hit upon something 0:07:03.960 --> 0:07:09.000 like they're not necessarily wet year round, right, So there's 0:07:09.000 --> 0:07:12.720 a whole bunch of different types of wetlands or wetland 0:07:12.760 --> 0:07:18.200 environments that fill those that check those boxes. UM. One 0:07:18.240 --> 0:07:19.960 of the ones that most people think of when they 0:07:19.960 --> 0:07:23.960 think of wetlands or coastal wetlands, like marshes and a 0:07:24.080 --> 0:07:28.680 marsh is basically like this area between inland and the ocean. 0:07:28.720 --> 0:07:32.000 It's like a transition zone, a buffer zone. And because 0:07:32.080 --> 0:07:35.240 it's because of its proximity to the ocean, UM, it's 0:07:35.320 --> 0:07:38.480 usually salty or at least brackets, which is a mixture 0:07:38.520 --> 0:07:41.480 of salt water and fresh water. And one of the 0:07:41.600 --> 0:07:43.720 one of the ones that really come to mind if 0:07:43.720 --> 0:07:46.880 you're thinking coastal wetlands, you're thinking marsh lands, and you're 0:07:46.880 --> 0:07:49.880 thinking tidal marsh lands, probably especially if you're a Pat 0:07:49.920 --> 0:07:56.480 Conroy fan. What was the name of her character that 0:07:56.520 --> 0:07:59.560 he repeats over and over in a whisper. I think 0:07:59.600 --> 0:08:04.440 I remember Umber Chuck. It was Bobby Jim, Bobby Jim. 0:08:04.480 --> 0:08:07.080 This is one of those scream at the uh at 0:08:07.080 --> 0:08:09.440 the pod player moments. Was it in. Was it in 0:08:09.440 --> 0:08:14.360 the Prince of Tides? Yeah, Lowenstein? Was that it? You're 0:08:14.440 --> 0:08:16.800 sure it wasn't Bobby Jim. I think it was Lowenstein. 0:08:17.160 --> 0:08:20.760 Was it his oh his shrinks his shrink girlfriend's name, yeah, 0:08:20.800 --> 0:08:25.040 Babs Okay, yeah, I don't remember. I think it was Lownstein. Alright, 0:08:25.080 --> 0:08:29.760 So anyway, title Marsha's yes, Prince of Tides. They obviously 0:08:29.960 --> 0:08:32.160 you're it's because they're title. They're gonna come in and 0:08:32.200 --> 0:08:35.200 out with the high and low tide. And like you said, 0:08:35.200 --> 0:08:39.160 they're generally saltwater, and the salt marshals are are very 0:08:39.240 --> 0:08:41.520 nutrient rich, and they do have a lot of diversity, 0:08:42.040 --> 0:08:45.080 but obviously only the kind of things that can tolerate 0:08:45.120 --> 0:08:47.720 the salt um as far as plants and animals go, 0:08:48.200 --> 0:08:50.960 which is a pretty short list really, because salt is 0:08:51.000 --> 0:08:55.720 not conducive to life. Instead, there are some plants that 0:08:55.760 --> 0:08:58.720 have figured out how to deal with salt um. But 0:08:58.920 --> 0:09:01.000 most of the time when you're king at salt marshes, 0:09:01.000 --> 0:09:04.240 you're looking you're the plant life is is basically grasses 0:09:04.320 --> 0:09:08.880 of some sort. Um. There's also freshwater tidal marshes, which 0:09:09.440 --> 0:09:15.120 um they are either connected to the saltwater marsh, but 0:09:15.160 --> 0:09:17.959 they're far enough inland that the saltwater doesn't make its 0:09:18.000 --> 0:09:20.800 way in there. Um, so it's a freshwater marsh, but 0:09:20.800 --> 0:09:23.760 it's still is affected by the tides. And then I 0:09:23.800 --> 0:09:27.079 had no idea about this, um, And I used to 0:09:27.120 --> 0:09:29.880 vacation on Lake Erie. But apparently the Great Lakes are 0:09:29.920 --> 0:09:33.319 so big that they have tides themselves. You didn't know that. 0:09:33.760 --> 0:09:36.080 I had no idea. I even knew that. And I'm 0:09:36.120 --> 0:09:39.080 a dumb dumb when it comes to the Great Lakes. Well, Chuck, 0:09:39.120 --> 0:09:42.080 I think you got me beat big time in this case, 0:09:42.360 --> 0:09:44.360 because I could know a million other things about the 0:09:44.360 --> 0:09:46.000 Great Lakes. And if you knew that one thing and 0:09:46.040 --> 0:09:48.920 I didn't, you have me beat. Yeah, I knew that. 0:09:49.080 --> 0:09:51.640 And so that means that they do have those tidal 0:09:51.640 --> 0:09:56.640 marshes the Florida Everglades or another good example, um, and boy, Florida. 0:09:56.800 --> 0:10:00.520 Just there's a lot of different types of wetlands in Florida. Well, 0:10:00.520 --> 0:10:02.920 there's a lot of coastline, a lot of coastline, and 0:10:02.960 --> 0:10:07.640 a lot of interior. Um wetness. Yeah, we have a 0:10:07.679 --> 0:10:10.240 lot of wetlands around our place in Florida, for sure. 0:10:10.480 --> 0:10:13.080 And there's mangroves and all sorts of stuff that we'll 0:10:13.080 --> 0:10:15.839 talk about. Well, we're at mangroves. I love those things. 0:10:16.640 --> 0:10:20.559 So mangroves I think they at least deserve a short 0:10:20.679 --> 0:10:23.400 stuff because they're one of the most amazing plants of 0:10:23.400 --> 0:10:27.319 all time. But they're they're they're a type of coastal 0:10:27.920 --> 0:10:31.800 um coastal wetland themselves, a mangrove forest, or if you've 0:10:31.840 --> 0:10:35.119 never seen a mangrove forest, there are these kind of um. 0:10:35.240 --> 0:10:39.440 They have a growth habit for their the shrubbery on 0:10:39.559 --> 0:10:42.840 top of like the hair that umpa lumpa has in 0:10:42.880 --> 0:10:46.959 the original, the original Willy Wonka, the good one. And 0:10:47.320 --> 0:10:52.640 they're the trunks split out into these cool like long 0:10:53.440 --> 0:10:56.080 roots and legs that stick up out of the water 0:10:56.760 --> 0:10:59.560 and they form this huge tangle, this riot of like 0:10:59.679 --> 0:11:03.199 sh a woody shrub um, and they do all sorts 0:11:03.200 --> 0:11:06.840 of amazing things to help the aquatic life and us 0:11:06.920 --> 0:11:10.319 humans as well up on land just by being present. Yeah, 0:11:10.360 --> 0:11:13.000 they're really cool looking. Uh. And this is another good one, 0:11:13.040 --> 0:11:15.560 sort of like the oregami that if you're able and 0:11:15.559 --> 0:11:17.839 you're sitting still to look up a lot of these 0:11:17.880 --> 0:11:21.320 things as you go, because these mangrove for us, it 0:11:21.440 --> 0:11:25.080 looks like it looks like a shrub. That's like, I 0:11:25.160 --> 0:11:26.959 really want to be a shrub, but i don't want 0:11:26.960 --> 0:11:30.080 to get wet, so I'm just gonna dip my legs 0:11:30.080 --> 0:11:32.800 in a little bit. Yeah, that's really great. It's just 0:11:33.000 --> 0:11:36.880 very cool looking. And and again just the adaptability that 0:11:37.000 --> 0:11:39.480 these mangroves really want to live where they live even 0:11:39.480 --> 0:11:42.200 though it's not very suited for them, and they become 0:11:42.240 --> 0:11:46.079 suited for it. Right, if you've been sleeping on mangroves, 0:11:46.320 --> 0:11:50.240 Welcome to reality. Well it's a T shirt if I 0:11:50.280 --> 0:11:52.439 ever heard one. Yeah, that's all. I could use a 0:11:52.480 --> 0:11:54.960 little work, But there's there's the beginnings of one in there. 0:11:55.480 --> 0:11:58.000 You also got your inland wet lands. These are not 0:11:58.080 --> 0:12:02.120 coastal in this case. We're talking about swamps and marshes 0:12:02.360 --> 0:12:08.400 and bogs and fens at e n and marshes uh. 0:12:08.480 --> 0:12:11.000 A lot of these you'll find near rivers, near streams, 0:12:11.480 --> 0:12:14.920 uh lowland depressions, and they might periodically fill up depending 0:12:14.960 --> 0:12:18.439 on rain what's going on, or or different types of 0:12:18.440 --> 0:12:20.600 flooding that might happen. And they can be a few 0:12:20.640 --> 0:12:23.280 inches deep, they can be several feet deep. Yeah, they're 0:12:23.640 --> 0:12:28.679 most of the non title. Inland marshes are ephemeral wetlands, 0:12:29.200 --> 0:12:31.800 so they're dry a lot of the year. Um they 0:12:31.880 --> 0:12:35.160 might fill up seasonally, they might fill up with the rains, 0:12:35.200 --> 0:12:37.800 they might fill up with the nearby river flooding. It's 0:12:37.840 --> 0:12:41.680 like my backyard, and they, oh, really is that right? Yeah, 0:12:41.720 --> 0:12:45.000 it's it doesn't drain. Well, I've got a drainage problem. Okay, 0:12:45.040 --> 0:12:49.080 to you, it's a problem to nature. It's wonderful because 0:12:49.480 --> 0:12:51.880 we'd like things that drain really quickly and dry and 0:12:51.880 --> 0:12:54.000 then we can walk on them and the grass is fine. 0:12:54.440 --> 0:12:56.839 But there's a lot of like benefits to things that 0:12:56.920 --> 0:12:59.760 take their time, like um uh, there's something called the 0:13:00.120 --> 0:13:04.120 old pool, which is a kind of non tidal marsh, 0:13:04.360 --> 0:13:07.320 an ephemeral wetland, and it's basically just like say a 0:13:07.480 --> 0:13:10.199 stretch of woods that had that's a little bit depressed there, 0:13:10.240 --> 0:13:12.480 so that when it rains or river floods, it fills 0:13:12.480 --> 0:13:16.120 with water. And because the underlying bedrock or clay is 0:13:16.160 --> 0:13:18.160 not very poorous, it takes a while for that water 0:13:18.240 --> 0:13:21.240 to go through. But that water is also not going 0:13:21.320 --> 0:13:24.360 further downstream, so it prevents flooding from being as bad 0:13:24.400 --> 0:13:26.280 as it could because a lot of the water collects 0:13:26.320 --> 0:13:30.400 and stays there, and it also slowly recharges the groundwater. 0:13:30.840 --> 0:13:34.800 And because it does get dry, it can't sustain fish, 0:13:35.080 --> 0:13:37.640 which makes it a really great nursery for things like 0:13:37.960 --> 0:13:42.480 newts and salamanders and frogs um things that that fish 0:13:42.559 --> 0:13:44.839 eat their eggs. But since there's no fish, this is 0:13:44.880 --> 0:13:46.760 like a really great place for them to to get 0:13:46.760 --> 0:13:51.760 a good foothole and a brand new life. Uh, you've 0:13:51.800 --> 0:13:55.480 also got your prairie pot holes. Uh, this is when 0:13:55.520 --> 0:13:57.520 you should definitely look up. These are usually in the 0:13:57.559 --> 0:14:01.960 upper midwest of the United States that codas Minnesota, maybe Wisconsin, 0:14:02.679 --> 0:14:05.920 and these are where glaciers, ancient glaciers left these big 0:14:06.080 --> 0:14:10.280 depressions in the landscape and they fill up sometimes during rain, 0:14:10.440 --> 0:14:14.520 during the spring, during snow melt. And they're not small 0:14:14.600 --> 0:14:16.680 like our our prairie pothole. And I got a vision 0:14:16.679 --> 0:14:19.120 in my head, but if you look it up online, 0:14:19.160 --> 0:14:22.320 they're beautiful and just they're very large though, and they're 0:14:22.360 --> 0:14:26.280 kind of interconnected, just these big round holes scattered through 0:14:26.280 --> 0:14:28.440 like a big open area full of water. And these 0:14:28.480 --> 0:14:33.040 are great for migrating birds because that could be a 0:14:33.080 --> 0:14:36.640 stopover that they might not have had had those potholes 0:14:36.640 --> 0:14:39.840 not been there, And when they're flying over the Dacota 0:14:39.840 --> 0:14:44.480 as they say, look, I see Van Nostran's house, our 0:14:44.560 --> 0:14:48.000 buddy van nostran Um. And then there's also we said 0:14:48.000 --> 0:14:51.680 that that wetlands occur in all different kinds of climates. 0:14:51.680 --> 0:14:54.640 They also occur in the desert. There's something called pla lakes, 0:14:54.680 --> 0:14:57.840 which are these depressions that apparently no one has any 0:14:57.880 --> 0:14:59.800 idea exactly how they formed. It could have been from 0:14:59.840 --> 0:15:02.080 a ocean, it could have been from an ancient sinkhole. 0:15:02.440 --> 0:15:05.200 But there are depressions that are deep enough that when 0:15:05.240 --> 0:15:08.440 the seasonal rains come, the water is held in there. 0:15:08.800 --> 0:15:12.320 And just like the prairie potholes, it's very useful for 0:15:12.520 --> 0:15:16.920 migratory birds to stop over. At um can really plays 0:15:16.920 --> 0:15:19.840 a huge role in this ecosystem where there's almost no water, 0:15:20.360 --> 0:15:22.360 and now all of a sudden, there's water, and it's 0:15:22.360 --> 0:15:24.480 in this nice little lake. So let's all go gather 0:15:24.600 --> 0:15:27.760 there and have a social hour. But but but responsibly 0:15:27.800 --> 0:15:31.320 six ft apart. That's right, I think we should take 0:15:31.360 --> 0:15:34.480 a break and we will talk a little bit about 0:15:34.560 --> 0:15:57.600 inland swamps right after this. Alright, so inland swamps we 0:15:57.680 --> 0:16:01.200 promised to talk about that these are are, for my money, 0:16:01.280 --> 0:16:05.600 some of the coolest areas in the country, because I 0:16:05.800 --> 0:16:07.400 think I talked about it at some point. But I 0:16:07.400 --> 0:16:10.840 took a very special fund trip many many years ago 0:16:10.880 --> 0:16:13.960 to the Okefinokee Swamp and did one of those canoe 0:16:14.040 --> 0:16:17.080 trips where you have to rent. You know, there's no 0:16:17.120 --> 0:16:19.720 place to stop in the Okefinokee Swamp if you're like, 0:16:20.040 --> 0:16:22.480 I think I'll camp here, it's like in the water. 0:16:23.600 --> 0:16:26.160 So they had these camping pads built up. The essentially 0:16:26.200 --> 0:16:29.800 just decks um that are like six ft above the water, 0:16:30.440 --> 0:16:32.680 and you have to reserve those. They are not just 0:16:32.720 --> 0:16:35.920 wide open for anyone um because there's nothing else out there, 0:16:35.920 --> 0:16:38.840 so you have to reserve them for specific nights on 0:16:39.000 --> 0:16:43.600 these specific pathways or you know, paddleways. And me and 0:16:43.640 --> 0:16:45.160 a couple of buddies did it one year and we 0:16:45.200 --> 0:16:50.160 canoed from from deck to deck and uh, it was amazing. 0:16:50.240 --> 0:16:52.560 Like one of the coolest trips I've ever taken. That 0:16:52.760 --> 0:16:55.600 is very cool was ned Baity with you. No, but 0:16:56.160 --> 0:16:58.520 you do wake up surrounded by alligators. It's just a 0:16:58.520 --> 0:17:02.560 little creepy. Yes, alligators are very creepy. Like you wake 0:17:02.640 --> 0:17:05.040 up on that pad and and p off the dock 0:17:05.160 --> 0:17:07.919 and they're growling at you. Yeah, and you do not 0:17:07.960 --> 0:17:09.960 want to get too close because they can move faster 0:17:10.040 --> 0:17:12.480 than you think. Yeah, they can. It was It was 0:17:12.480 --> 0:17:14.520 a lot of fun though, but not for the faint 0:17:14.560 --> 0:17:16.320 of heart, because you know, you don't realize until you 0:17:16.359 --> 0:17:18.800 get out there a how bad the sun is gonna 0:17:18.840 --> 0:17:23.120 beat you up because there's no shade, and be how 0:17:23.160 --> 0:17:26.440 tough it is to paddle all day long without like, 0:17:27.000 --> 0:17:29.000 you know, let me get out and stretch my legs. 0:17:29.760 --> 0:17:32.679 I mean, there is no getting out. You just you 0:17:32.800 --> 0:17:34.960 just go and go and go, and by the time 0:17:35.000 --> 0:17:38.199 you finally reach that jankie deck, it is like, uh, 0:17:38.800 --> 0:17:41.720 might as well be the Plaza Hotel, you know. Nice. 0:17:42.280 --> 0:17:43.760 But what I'm talking about in the case of the 0:17:43.760 --> 0:17:46.480 Oki Finocchi, I thought it was a forest's or a 0:17:46.480 --> 0:17:50.480 bottom bottom land hardwood swamp, you think from reading this, 0:17:50.600 --> 0:17:55.719 But apparently it's called a non riverine swamp forest and 0:17:55.760 --> 0:17:58.640 that is a forested swamp that fills up from non 0:17:58.720 --> 0:18:02.960 river sources basically the rain or groundwater, right right, So 0:18:03.520 --> 0:18:06.320 the what would make a forested swamp like a bottom 0:18:06.400 --> 0:18:09.440 land hardwood swamp is a proximity to a river that 0:18:09.480 --> 0:18:13.080 floods its banks or that is just so so big 0:18:13.080 --> 0:18:15.600 it kind of spills over into some of the surrounding land, 0:18:15.600 --> 0:18:17.880 and that surrounding land is swamp. I want to look 0:18:17.960 --> 0:18:20.200 that up, though I'm not quite sure Dave's right. So well, 0:18:20.280 --> 0:18:23.600 it's okay. It's so it's either river fed or groundwater 0:18:23.640 --> 0:18:27.800 fed or precipitation fed. And if you're talking bottom land 0:18:27.840 --> 0:18:32.240 hardwood swamps, that's or a river fed swamp. There's usually 0:18:32.240 --> 0:18:36.200 also a shrub swamp, which is a transition or buffer 0:18:36.320 --> 0:18:40.679 zone between the forested swamp and you know, somebody's backyard, 0:18:41.119 --> 0:18:43.560 which is it's just dominated by shrubs, but it's all 0:18:43.560 --> 0:18:46.159 the same thing. It's all fresh water swamp. Yeah, I 0:18:46.160 --> 0:18:49.119 think I bet you anything that. Okay, Finocchi has several 0:18:49.160 --> 0:18:51.879 different types of these would be my guess, because they 0:18:51.920 --> 0:18:55.199 were full on lakes that we paddled through. Yeah, um 0:18:55.280 --> 0:18:57.080 so that would be my guess. And I also think 0:18:57.119 --> 0:18:58.760 if I had a country band, they would we would 0:18:58.760 --> 0:19:02.280 be the bottom land hardwood swamp rats. Oh that's a 0:19:02.280 --> 0:19:04.840 good one. That sounds like an all star band, you know. 0:19:06.520 --> 0:19:09.000 Um So, another kind of wetland that you're going to 0:19:09.080 --> 0:19:12.280 find all over the place, especially in Europe, which when 0:19:12.320 --> 0:19:14.480 I think of bogs and fens, I think of Europe, 0:19:14.480 --> 0:19:17.760 but apparently there's plenty of them in the United States too. 0:19:18.200 --> 0:19:21.760 But um, bogs and fens are kind of their own thing. 0:19:22.520 --> 0:19:25.480 Bogs in particular are very unique as far as wetlands go, 0:19:25.640 --> 0:19:29.399 because not only are they anaerobic, which by definition of 0:19:29.600 --> 0:19:35.560 wetland is anaerobic soil, they're like very little nutrient and 0:19:35.800 --> 0:19:39.560 very high acidity. I've I've heard like the kind of 0:19:39.600 --> 0:19:43.000 acid that is put out by the peat that's created 0:19:43.400 --> 0:19:46.640 in the bog has the same acidity roughly of vinegar. 0:19:47.400 --> 0:19:50.880 It's like, a yeah, it's really really acidic stuff, and 0:19:50.960 --> 0:19:54.199 yet some plants prefer it. Like you can grow cranberries 0:19:54.240 --> 0:19:58.200 and blueberries in a bog. You can preserve a body 0:19:58.320 --> 0:20:00.840 from the Iron Age forward and bog. Do we ever 0:20:00.840 --> 0:20:04.360 recover that the bog bodies? I feel like we did. 0:20:04.359 --> 0:20:06.840 Maybe it might have been one of our video things 0:20:06.880 --> 0:20:10.920 on YouTube. Maybe mummies, because I think, if I remember correctly, 0:20:10.920 --> 0:20:14.200 our mummy episode covered more than just Egyptian mummies and 0:20:14.359 --> 0:20:17.880 be covered like Inco mummies, and I'm sure we did. 0:20:18.040 --> 0:20:20.639 We saw some then when we went to uh on 0:20:20.680 --> 0:20:23.040 our our UK trip, We've got to visit some of 0:20:23.040 --> 0:20:26.520 those cats, like firsthand, like right there in that in 0:20:26.520 --> 0:20:29.399 that glass, right, like you know I have to do 0:20:29.520 --> 0:20:32.520 is smash it with a hammer and it's yours, yeah, 0:20:32.960 --> 0:20:34.800 or at least whatever you can grab like a bog 0:20:34.880 --> 0:20:39.040 ear right, it just crumbles and in your hand. But 0:20:39.119 --> 0:20:41.280 I was like, I was like, okay, why why are 0:20:41.359 --> 0:20:45.199 the bogs so great for preservation? Part of it, from 0:20:45.240 --> 0:20:48.040 what I understand, is that acidity that the bodies are 0:20:48.040 --> 0:20:53.440 actually pickled. But another part is the the um aerobic 0:20:53.840 --> 0:20:58.480 life is so devoid there. There's just anaerobic bacteria and 0:20:58.520 --> 0:21:01.760 they don't decompose nearly well as aerobic bacteria, so the 0:21:01.920 --> 0:21:05.640 decomposition doesn't set in and the remains are pickled. So 0:21:06.520 --> 0:21:08.639 like you can preserve a body in a really great 0:21:08.680 --> 0:21:12.960 state for a very like toall End band, you could 0:21:13.080 --> 0:21:16.040 his whiskers are still intact on his face. Yeah, Like 0:21:16.080 --> 0:21:18.800 that was the level of preservation, and he was sacrificed 0:21:18.840 --> 0:21:22.080 into a bog, which is a very specific kind of wetland. Yeah, 0:21:22.080 --> 0:21:24.320 and a fin like I said, it's f e n 0:21:24.480 --> 0:21:27.440 it's sort of like a bog, and that it is 0:21:27.680 --> 0:21:31.879 a peat pet wetland. But they're a little bit different 0:21:31.880 --> 0:21:35.960 than bogs. The water supply doesn't come primarily from rain, 0:21:36.640 --> 0:21:38.639 and it comes from the ground, So it's not it's 0:21:38.680 --> 0:21:41.600 gonna be less acidic because I don't think we mentioned mentioned. 0:21:41.600 --> 0:21:44.879 I know it's um partially because of the peat, but um, 0:21:44.960 --> 0:21:48.040 the acidity also comes from the fact that there's acid 0:21:48.040 --> 0:21:51.520 and rain that gets filling up, that fills up these bogs, 0:21:52.240 --> 0:21:55.560 but not the case in a fin now, because that 0:21:55.640 --> 0:21:58.919 groundwater is able to kind of dilute it a little bit. 0:21:58.960 --> 0:22:01.120 So they're much more New Trent rich than a ball 0:22:01.200 --> 0:22:03.920 get so they're gonna have much a much wider diverse 0:22:04.680 --> 0:22:07.639 range of plants and animal life. Yeah, and this I 0:22:07.680 --> 0:22:09.800 love that. This next section from day was called other 0:22:09.840 --> 0:22:13.719 fun types of wetlands. Yeah, mud flats, Yeah, you get 0:22:13.760 --> 0:22:16.520 your mud flat. It's another good country band. Um. My 0:22:16.600 --> 0:22:19.879 favorite are seeps. These are just gorgeous little pieces of nature. 0:22:19.920 --> 0:22:22.359 If you ask me, um, it's if you have a 0:22:22.440 --> 0:22:25.119 spring that comes up out of the ground. Uh, it 0:22:25.240 --> 0:22:28.320 spills over into the ground. So the surrounding ground is wetland, 0:22:28.359 --> 0:22:31.480 and it's called a seep. That's right. It's where gnomes 0:22:31.840 --> 0:22:36.080 like go and shower. Yeah, and it's not uh like 0:22:36.080 --> 0:22:38.720 you said, it's a spring, so it's not like a creek. No, 0:22:39.040 --> 0:22:42.080 it's actually coming up from the ground. You ever drink 0:22:42.080 --> 0:22:46.440 from a natural spring? I did when I was a kid, 0:22:46.520 --> 0:22:49.600 and my mom fired the babysitter that like took a 0:22:49.680 --> 0:22:51.840 drink from a spring. Yeah. Who she was like, what 0:22:51.880 --> 0:22:54.399 are you doing? It was either spring or like a 0:22:54.480 --> 0:22:57.840 river in Ohio, and either way very different things. It's 0:22:58.080 --> 0:23:00.800 like a Kyaga river. Ever, then you're in bad. It 0:23:00.880 --> 0:23:03.359