Placeholder Image

Subtitles section Play video

  • Ariana: A wetland is a unique ecosystem that is the bridge between terrestrial ecosystems

  • and aquatic ecosystems, so for example, a forest and a stream.

  • They have unique soils.

  • They have plants that are adapted to living in those wet conditions, and then they have

  • water.

  • Those three things make a wetland.

  • Fernando: Wetlands control large parts of the hydrologic cycle, but they also control

  • large parts of the carbon cycle.

  • It's got a lot of mass, a lot of biomass because there's so much water that it can grow very

  • quickly.

  • Ariana: These systems are incredibly productive systems.

  • And so they are a very impressive what we callnatural carbon sinkthat is helping

  • to mitigate climate change.

  • Fernando: Wetlands are able to store as much or even more carbon than forests.

  • Ariana: They're great recreational opportunities, too.

  • People like to go bird watching in wetlands, for example, or they're some of the most fun

  • places to go kayaking through.

  • So they can be very magical, wonderful places to do recreation as well.

  • VOICEOVER: Wetlands also help improve water quality and protect coastlines from flooding.

  • But landowners and governments have not always recognized the value of wetlands.

  • Fernando: Wetlands were seen as essentially swampsthings that you wanted to get rid

  • of.

  • So wetlands were systemically destroyed and then converted to urban land in the case of

  • south Florida.

  • And the same has been happening in other wetland systems around the world.

  • VOICEOVER: Fernando Miralles-Wilhelm, Ariana Sutton-Grier and their colleagues at the University

  • of Maryland's Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center are learning about threats to wetland

  • ecosystems, and working to find solutions.

  • Ariana: When we destroy coastal wetlands, that carbon that was locked up in that soil

  • very rapidly gets lost back to the atmosphere.

  • So what was a really important natural carbon sink has suddenly become a new human-caused

  • source of carbon.

  • Fernando: The constant and frequent flooding that occurs in Florida is because wetlands

  • were there to prevent that from happening.

  • You get rid of the wetlands, you start flooding.

  • VOICEOVER: Miralles-Wilhelm recently contributed to a National Academies report on the restoration

  • of the Florida Everglades.

  • Fernando: And essentially climate change has two key effects on Everglades restoration.

  • The Everglades are very low-lying wetlands, which means that they're very susceptible

  • to sea level rise.

  • Salt is able to move in and displace fresh water.

  • Climate change probably will decrease the amount of rain that goes in, so when you have

  • less rain coming in and sea water moving through, what you create is what I like to refer to

  • as a sandwich effect, where basically fresh water is being squeezed out on both ends.

  • VOICEOVER: Sutton-Grier recently co-authored a study in the journal Frontiers in Ecology

  • and the Environment that found coastal wetlands to be exceptionally good at storing carbon.

  • Ariana: We get asked all the time, why are you only talking about wetlands?

  • Why are we not talking about corals?

  • Why are we not talking about fish?

  • Coastal blue carbon is the carbon taken up and stored in coastal wetlands: mangroves,

  • salt marsh and tidal marshes, and also sea grasses.

  • The answer on corals, kelp, and on fish is they are very important habitats.

  • They are, however, not long-term carbon sinks.

  • VOICEOVER: The University of Maryland has a large part to play in the future of wetlands

  • research.

  • Fernando: I think as we move forward with increasing threats of climate change, we really

  • need a new generation of practitioners and professionals, to attack these problems that

  • are going to be probably much more severe than they are today.

  • Ariana: I get to work here with faculty at University of Maryland and I also sit at the

  • National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

  • My position really allows me to bridge a lot of worlds so that I am really at that science

  • and policy nexus, really thinking about how is the science we're doing getting used

  • for better management and policymaking.

  • Fernando: The fact that we've gotten better and better at measuring wetland biomass from

  • space, using remote sensing satellite technology, is what has enhanced in a very short period

  • of timeand I'm really looking at the last 10 yearsour understanding of wetlands as

  • systems.

  • So if you look at the University of Maryland, within a five-mile radius you will find the

  • highest concentration of Earth system remote sensing scientists in the world.

  • And that is what we bring to the table very effectively in the area of wetlands.

Ariana: A wetland is a unique ecosystem that is the bridge between terrestrial ecosystems

Subtitles and vocabulary

Click the word to look it up Click the word to find further inforamtion about it

B2 US fernando carbon ariana coastal maryland everglades

The Secret Life of Wetlands: Finding Solutions to Environmental Threats at UMD

  • 38361 2387
    王杰 posted on 2020/06/01
Video vocabulary

Keywords

essentially

US /ɪˈsenʃəli/

UK /ɪˈsenʃəli/

  • adverb
  • Basically; (said when stating the basic facts)
  • Fundamentally; basically.
  • Relating to the most important aspect of something.
  • In effect; virtually.
  • In essence; when you consider the most important aspects
  • Used to emphasize the basic truth or fact of a situation.
incredibly

US /ɪnˈkrɛdəblɪ/

UK /ɪnˈkredəbli/

  • adverb
  • To a great degree; very; amazingly
  • To an extremely high degree; remarkably.
  • To an extremely high degree; remarkably.
  • Extremely; so much so it is hard to believe
  • To an extremely high degree; very.
  • To an extreme degree; very.
  • In a way that is difficult to believe; surprisingly.
susceptible

US /səˈsɛptəbəl/

UK /səˈseptəbl/

  • adjective
  • Likely to fall prey to, be drawn to or influenced
  • Easily influenced by feelings or emotions; impressionable.
  • Likely to be influenced or harmed by a particular thing.
  • Easily influenced by feelings or emotions; receptive
  • At risk of developing a certain illness or problem
  • Vulnerable or prone to something
recognize

US /ˈrek.əɡ.naɪz/

UK /ˈrek.əɡ.naɪz/

  • other
  • To accept that something is true or important
  • To know someone or something because you have seen or heard them before
  • To officially accept or approve of a country, government, etc.
  • To realize or understand something
  • To acknowledge the existence, validity, or legality of something.
  • To show appreciation for someone's efforts or qualities.
  • To identify someone or something seen before.
  • To understand and accept the importance of something.
  • verb
  • To accept the truth or reality of something
  • To officially accept or approve of something
  • To consider something as important or special
  • To accept the legal authority of someone, thing
  • To know someone or something because you have seen or heard them before
  • To publicly show appreciation for someone's work
  • To know someone or something because you have seen or heard him or her or experienced it before
constant

US /ˈkɑnstənt/

UK /'kɒnstənt/

  • adjective
  • Happening frequently or without pause
  • Occurring continuously over a period of time.
  • Faithful and dependable.
  • Remaining the same over time or not changing.
  • noun
  • Thing that happens always or at a regular rate
  • A fixed number or value.
  • A fixed number or value.
  • A physical quantity that is believed to have a fixed value and is used in calculations.
severe

US /səˈvɪr/

UK /sɪ'vɪə(r)/

  • adjective
  • Very bad; harsh
  • (Of clothes, etc.) plain; simple; not decorated
sense

US /sɛns/

UK /sens/

  • noun
  • Certain mental feeling or emotion
  • Normal or clear state of mind
  • Meaning of a particular word, phrase or text
  • verb
  • To perceive using sight, sound, taste touch etc.
  • To recognize the presence of something
squeeze

US /skwiz/

UK /skwi:z/

  • noun
  • Amount of liquid from firmly pressing e.g. orange
  • Act of putting pressure on, as to get liquid out
  • When there is not enough space for things/people
  • Act of firmly pressing on two or more sides
  • verb
  • To force or threaten someone to give you something
  • To strongly compress something to get liquid out
  • To be pressed together or crowded into an area
  • To press together the opposite sides of something
  • To reduce the amount of something
impressive

US /ɪmˈprɛsɪv/

UK /ɪmˈpresɪv/

  • adjective
  • Causing admiration or respect through being grand, imposing, or awesome.
  • Causing admiration or respect; grand or expensive
  • Evoking admiration through size, quality, or skill; grand, imposing, or worthy of note.
  • Having a strong effect, commanding attention.
  • Large or imposing in scale or scope.
  • Evoking admiration through size, quality, or skill; making a strong impact.
  • Evoking admiration through size, quality, or skill; grand or remarkable.
  • Remarkably good; causing a feeling of respect and admiration.
  • Demonstrating remarkable skill or knowledge.
rid

US /rɪd/

UK /rɪd/

  • verb
  • To cause to no longer have (pest, problem)
  • To remove or eliminate something unwanted
  • To free from something unwanted.
  • To free from something unwanted or unpleasant.
  • Having been freed from something.
  • To cause someone to be free of (a troublesome or unwanted person or thing).
  • Having removed or eliminated something unwanted.
  • adjective
  • Freed or delivered from something.