Wetlands

This is a heterogenous wetland type, transitional from deeper open-water habitats such as lakes, and more completely vegetated wetlands such as marshes. Shallow, open-water wetlands are known locally by names such as ponds, sloughs, and potholes. These are small bodies of surface water, less than about 7 ft (2 m) in depth, and free of emergent plants, but often having floating-leaved vegetation. These wetlands and their fringing marshes can support relatively large populations of waterfowl, amphibians, and other animals. For example, the open-water portions of prairie potholes provide habitat for populations of diving ducks, such as lesser scaup (Aythya affinis), canvasback (Aythya valisneria), and redhead (Aythya americana), along with coot (Fulica americana), western grebe (Aechmorphorus occidentalis), and other species of birds. Beaver (Castor canadensis) can also be abundant in shallow, open-water wetlands, and in fact they often create such habitat by damming streams.