Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Geographically Isolated Wetlands: Rethinking A Misnomer, David M. Mushet, Aram J. K. Calhoun, Laurie C. Alexander, Matthew J. Cohen, Edward S. Dekeyser, Laurie Fowler, Charles R. Lane, Mark C. Rains, Susan C. Walls

School of Geosciences Faculty and Staff Publications

We explore the category “geographically isolated wetlands” (GIWs; i.e., wetlands completely surrounded by uplands at the local scale) as used in the wetland sciences. As currently used, the GIW category (1) hampers scientific efforts by obscuring important hydrological and ecological differences among multiple wetland functional types, (2) aggregates wetlands in a manner not reflective of regulatory and management information needs, (3) implies wetlands so described are in some way “isolated,” an often incorrect implication, (4) is inconsistent with more broadly used and accepted concepts of “geographic isolation,” and (5) has injected unnecessary confusion into scientific investigations and discussions. Instead, we …