Wetland Classification: Overview

The term 'wetland' groups together a range of largely aquatic habitats that usually have a number of common features, such as the presence of specific vegetation, soils, and water regimes, including the occurrence of continuous, seasonal, or periodic standing water or saturated soils. Most approaches used around the world to classify wetlands are referred to as 'classification systems'. The wetland definition and typology used by the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands is an example which includes a wider range of wetland types than included by many others. The Ramsar definition was given in the text of the Convention in 1971 and is one of several classification approaches used around the world. The evolution of wetland classification systems is outlined and a number of other classification systems currently in use around the world are briefly reviewed and discussed in this chapter.