In recent years, we have come to understand that wetlands provide many essential ecological benefits. Evapotranspiration is the release of water vapor into the atmosphere that eventually condenses into rainfall. In fact, wetlands evapotranspire as much water vapor as open bodies of water. More than a third of our endangered species, for instance, need some kind of wetland habitat to survive. Threatened or endangered species that depend on wetlands include Florida panthers, snail kites, Cape Sable seaside sparrows, and sandhill cranes.
Alligators are also important to maintaining the viability of marshes.
They create alligator holes that shelter aquatic life during droughts and then serve as biological reservoirs for recolonizing marshes once the wet season arrives. Wetlands do not have to be part of huge systems to be valuable. Isolated or intermittent wetlands provide important habitat for many species-including those low on the food chain, such as salamanders and frogs, as well as larger species. Isolated wetlands are not connected to a larger surface-water system, while intermittent wetlands dry up periodically. Wood storks, for example, move from one small wetland to another while feeding.