Large fish, as well as mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians, eat aquatic invertebrates and forage fish. Wetland plants provide shelter and food to diverse species. Wetlands also provide essential breeding, nesting, feeding, and predator escape habitats for millions of waterfowl, other birds, mammals, and reptiles. Well over one third of the 564 plant and animal species listed as threatened or endangered in the United States utilize wetland habitats during some portion of their life cycles. In Arkansas, wintering waterfowl depend on bottomland hardwood forests for acorns and invertebrates.
Prothonotary warblers prefer nest sites within or near wetlands.
Fish species depend on wetlands for nutrients and spawning and nursery grounds. Hydrology is a major determinant in the use of and adaptation to bottomland hardwood wetlands by wildlife. Varying flooding regimes and slight elevational changes provide a habitat continuum supporting a range of aquatic and terrestrial species, including canopy dwellers. Arkansas wetlands, especially those in the Mississippi River Delta, are critical components of the series of wetlands along the Mississippi Flyway. Wetlands are vital to commercial and recreational sectors of our economy.