Introduction
Neponset River State Reservation is one of the important wetland areas along the Neponset River in Massachusetts. Massachusetts has a variety of wetlands that are heavily regulated for purposes of environmental protection. This is because wetlands are of extreme importance to the community and actively help in environmental preservation in myriad ways. The dominant form of land use in this area is housing. Housing is mainly comprised of single family residential lots. Historically, in this locality has been reserved primarily for settlement. Neponset River State Reservation is an estuarine wetland and flows in a unidirectional manner down the bay.
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"Wetland Ecology: Neponset River State Reservation".
Hydrology
Neponset River State Reservation is usually seasonally flooded but may become irregular. The dominant hydrology source is the Neponset River. The water flows downstream towards the bay. Because of the major hydrology source is the river, the wetland mostly follows its flow pattern. There is minor inlets and outlets noticeable form the map, but still, rejoin the river to flow down the bay. These minor inlets and outlets contribute to the nature of this wetland
Soils
The soils in the Neponset River State Reservation are definitely hydric. Hydric soil simply refers to a soil that is always covered with water resulting in prevalent anaerobic conditions. The soils are fine and loamy in nature with high calcium content. However, these soils have been contaminated to vast levels of chemicals form industries and residential waste. As discussed above this area land use is mostly residential. However, there are commercial lots as is expected of any major settlement area. The adjacent areas experience sandy soils more so towards the bay area.
Plants
The Neponset River State Reservation is filled with diverse rich and in some cases endangered plantation. They are in a wide variety ranging from wooded hills, salt marshes, and outcroppings all filled with diverse plants. However, focusing on the wetlands, they are primarily dominated by dominated by Lonicera involucrata.
Discussion and conclusion
Neponset River State Reservation provides great grounds for wetlands study. There is a lot for information to process because of how diverse the landscape is but it is this abundant information that allows for proper analysis. Primarily served by the Neponset River, this wetland is always under water making the soils hydric. This limits the amount of animal that survives within this wetland but the same cannot be said for plants. The landscape is filled with diversity from the dominant group Lonicera involucrate. The primary use of land which is for residential home and some commercial activities have not done the area justice. This diversity in plants is constantly threatened by the activities of man. Conservationist has had to step in and enforce regulations to allow for conservations of important aspects of the wasteland such as fish through the Wetlands Protection Act and Rivers Protection Act.
In conclusion, as the wetland is primarily defined as an ecosystem inundated by water. They are primarily distinguished through the uniquely adapted vegetation and soil which is usually hydric in nature. Based on the above description and evidence presented from the analysis and evidence found of the areas investigated, the Neponset River State Reservation is definitely a wetland. This is primarily made possible due to the Neponset River which always dumps some of its water into the area. The vegetation and soil compliment this to make an area that is worth looking after and protecting because of the immense benefits to the environment and the people settled in this area. In addition, this is in Boston Massachusetts has a lot of established wetland area and others of immense potential.
- Huang, W., & Chen, R. F. (2009). Sources and transformations of chromophoric dissolved organic matter in the Neponset River Watershed. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, 114(G4).
