Boreal and temperate river wetlands

The aims of this chapter are to define, explain and illustrate river wetlands in the Boreal and Temperate biomes. These wetlands, although part of a continuum from river-to-lake-to-raised mire are created by both physical (abiotic) and biotic factors which makes them highly sensitive to environmental change, and human intervention. They also vary in size over several orders of magnitude from small cutoff river channels to major deltaic wetlands. The main concepts involve the physical template; geomorphology, hydrology, and connectivity, and biotic components including hydroseral succession, niche construction, competition, decomposition pathways and disturbance. Methods for the study of wetlands range from remote sensing through geophysics and coring to hydrological and ecological monitoring and modelling. Alluvial wetlands have been massively impacted, due to the high requirements of agricultural land in both biomes, and consequently they are increasingly rare. However, attempts are being made to both protect surviving examples, and re-create these systems, employing both landscape re-engineering and biotic measures including selected re-introductions.