The term ‘marshland’ is used to define huge areas of muddy wetland or grassland. Everglade and Swamp are important types of marshland. Everglade is muddy marsh saw grasslands whereas the swamp areas are marshland with stable waterbody. Everglade can be converted into agricultural land but swamp cannot be.
Everglade vs Swamp
The main difference between everglade and swamp is that the water is a slow-flowing river saw grassland in the case of everglade. On the other hand, the swamp has stable water with forestland. Swamp is the connecting link between the land and water. Whereas everglade is the transition between tropical and subtropical climates.
Everglade is confined to the south Florida region. And muddy area enclosed in the slow-flowing river with saw grass. These areas are the transition of wet, subtropical, and warm climates. Also, the composition has calcium carbonate and shells. Everglade is full of biotic vegetation and flowing water maintains the oxygen balance.
Swamp is wet grassland and is the transition between both water and land. Also, the sea environment is shallow vegetation and soil saturation too. The swamp soil contains groundwater, precipitation, freshwater flooding, or tides. The water flow maintains the nutrients and pollutant balance whereas the excess material remains at the bottom.
Comparision Table Between Everglade and Swamp
| Parameters of Comparison | Everglade | Swamp |
| Definition | Everglade is a saw grass marsh with slow-moving water. | Swamp is marshy forestland or grassland spread throughout the world. |
| Water | Slow-moving water is present. | Stagnant water is present |
| Key Feature | Saw grass marsh is the key feature. | Grassland or Forestland is the key feature. |
| Area | Area limited to Southern Florida. | Spread throughout the world. |
| Size | Everglade has a huge area covered. | The swamp area may vary from smaller areas to larger ones. |
What is Everglade?
Everglade may be defined as the huge area of muddy marshlands or grassland. Also, Everglade is mostly used for the Southern Florida region. These areas contain saw grass and slow-flowing water.
The weather of South Florida is largely a transition between the subtropical and tropical climate. Everglade area can be converted into agricultural land and sugarcane is the main crop. Also, more than half of the land is now converted into farmland and urban usage.
Furthermore, nowadays these are under threat of extinction and environmental barrier. There is a huge fluctuation in the weather pattern of the everglade. This change in pattern ranges from periodic flooding in the wet season to drought conditions in the dry season. Many valuable metals and alloys are found in everglade. these include limestone, quartz, and much more.
The deposition of calcium is present in the sediment soil. This sediment soil is mostly present in the area where the water level rise and fall are frequent. this rise and occurs due to the occurrence of rainfall. In most of the South Floridian region, these everglades are converted to agricultural land.
What is Swamp?
Swamp areas are wet and muddy forestland. Swamp are further categorized depending upon the water. These are namely freshwater and seawater swamps.
Freshwater swamps are found around the lake or river. Also, these are dependent on seasonal rainwater and natural flooding. Whereas Saltwater swamps are present beside tropical and subtropical coastlines.
Swamp can be subdivided as a true and transition swamp. A true swamp contains forest and transition swamp consists of shrubs. The vegetation of the swamp mainly depends on oxygen, nutrients, water pH, and toxicity. Swamps are one of the important factors of flood management.
Main Differences Between Everglade and Swamp
- Everglade has a slow running flow of water. On the other hand, the swamp has steady or stagnant water.
- Everglade is confined to the southern region of Florida. Whereas, the swamp is spread throughout the world.
- Everglade has a wide variety of habitats, flora and fauna. On contrary to this, swamp’s vegetation depends upon the climate condition and habitat.
- The weather pattern in Everglade range from drought to often flooding conditions. However, the swamp has a constant climate depending upon the country’s climate.
- Everglade can be converted into farmland with sugarcane as a major crop. Also, the swamp has forestland that has bushes, shrubs and herbs.
Conclusion
The everglade and swamp are the two main types of marshy wetlands. Everglade is often termed as the transition between subtropical and tropical climates. Due to the fluctuations in climate, everglade is divided into 2 seasons namely the dry season and the wet season.
The dry season is the period from November to April and the wet season is from May to October. The wet season is mostly the rainy season. The everglade contains bedrock made up of limestone.
Also, the natural vegetation of aquatic animals is confined to certain levels of everglade. The saw grass may die due to the lack of oxygen in their roots. these saw grass are the main nesting spots of many alligators and some fishes.
Fishes, turtles alligators, and some amphibians feed on the abiotic component and smaller aquatic creatures. Whereas swamp is categorized based on water present. Mainly swamps are of two types, freshwater swamp and saltwater swamp.
Freshwater swamps are mostly found near lakes containing seasonal rainwater and aquatic vegetation. This rainwater flooding maintains the oxygen balance in the water.
The saltwater swamp is found around the coastlines especially tropical and subtropical. The flow of natural nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus are absorbed by the aquatic plants. Also, the excess nutrients are found sedimented at the base.
The environment of swamps depends on the availability of oxygen supply of nutrient water pH toxicity etc. Swamp is one of the natural examples of flood management as it absorbs floodwater. It prevents the flowing of water to the surrounding areas as well.
Swamp also help to prevent soil erosion. Huge trees bind the soil and prevent it from dislocation. It has an abundant source of oxygen and freshwater.
Reference
- https://www.jstor.org/stable/4075287
- https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10646-008-0233-x
- https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article-abstract/61/1/49/304606
- https://www.worldscientific.com/doi/abs/10.1142/9781848160125_0014