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Diversity of wetland types

The definitions of wetlands above focus on the broad characteristics of the water. In addition to describing a wetland by its water status - i.e. dry some of the time, permanently wet, saline or fresh etc - other characteristics are used to describe and classify wetland types.

For example, wetland types may be identified on the basis of:

• the dominant plant communities (e.g. trees, shrubs or herbs - salinity, depth, flow and permanence of water and the substrate will determine what plants and animals are present);
• the origin of their creation (e.g. natural wetlands formed in depressions created by geological events, groundwater seepage, or artificial wetlands such as farm dams and sewage ponds); or
• their physical characteristics (e.g. creeks, lakes, swamps, rivers).

Many of Australia's wetlands are dry some of the time. Wetlands that are intermittently wet and dry are common in the semi-arid and arid zones. Such lakes are often highly productive when they are filled, supporting a high diversity of waterbirds and other aquatic life.

NSW has many different wetland types. Here are some examples of natural and constructed wetlands in different regions of the State:

• Blue Lake in the Kosciuszko National Park is an alpine wetland.
• the Macquarie Marshes, on the lower Macquarie River near Warren, are an inland wetland complex (a series of wetland types) in a semi-arid region.
• Cuba Dam, west of Booligal in the Riverina - constructed in about 1900 - provides an important habitat for glossy ibis.
• the Narran Lakes wetland system, in semi-arid NSW north-west of Walgett, is a series of interconnecting terminal lakes (water flow terminates in the lakes) which flood in about one in two to five years.
• Clarence River Estuary, downstream of Bushgrove on the north coast, comprises several channels and intertidal wetlands associated with the largest coastal river in NSW.
• Lake George, between Goulburn and Canberra, is a shallow lake created by geological subsidence - it fluctuates in size depending on rainfall and evaporation.
• Kooragang Island near Newcastle is a coastal wetland.
• The Wakool evaporation basins, west of Deniliquin in the Riverina, were established as a disposal site for saline groundwater - they now provide a wide range of habitats for vegetation and waterfowl.
• O'Hares Creek Catchment, between Appin and Bulli, is a mosaic of valley-bottom and hanging swamps on the Hawkesbury sandstones of the Sydney-Bowen Uplands.