Step 2 Classify Wetlands Various schemes have been developed to classify Great Lakes coastal wetlands, depending on their intended use. For this study, we needed to classify U.S. and Canadian coastal wetlands using a single, uniform classification scheme. We decided to adopt a modified scheme of the Michigan Natural Features Inventory which had already been used to classify all U.S. wetlands available for this study. In our study, the Michigan Natural Features Inventory classification scheme was expanded to include other categories that were encountered in the Canadian databases. This is a geomorphic scheme, and coastal wetlands are classified based on the aquatic system, such as lacustrine, connecting channel or riverine, or estuarine.
Lets look at some examples.
The site type of Duck Bay is a protected embayment. The aquatic system is lacustrine wetland, that is, it occurs along the Great Lakes shoreline. Protected embayments typically support extensive zones of emergent and submergent marsh vegetation. Another lacustrine wetland is the Barrier Beach lagoon site type, which because it is isolated from the open lake, often has more bog-like vegetation than that seen in protected embayments. Sand River is a riverine system rather than a lacustrine system.