Contents 



Page 



Abstract 1 



Wetlands and Deepwater Habitats i 3 



Concepts and Definitions 3 



Wetlands 3 



Deepwater Habitats 3 



Limits 3 



The Classification System 4 



Hierarchical Structure 4 



Systems and Subsystems 4 



Marine System 4 



Estuarine System 4 



Riverine System 9 



Lacustrine System 11 



Palustrine System 12 



Classes, Subclasses, and Dominance Types 12 



Rock Bottom 15 



Unconsolidated Bottom 15 



Aquatic Bed 16 



Reef 17 



Streambed 18 



Rocky Shore 19 



Unconsolidated Shore 20 



Moss-Lichen Wetland 21 



Emergent Wetland 21 



Scrub-Shrub Wetland 22 



Forested Wetland 22 



Modifiers 23 



Water Regime Modifiers 23 



Water Chemistry Modifiers 24 



Salinity Modifiers 24 



pH Modifiers 25 



Soil Modifiers 25 



Special Modifiers 25 



Regionalization for the Classification System 26 



Use of the Classification System 28 



Hierarchical Levels and Modifiers 29 



Relationship to Other Wetland Classifications 29 



Acknowledgments 32 



References 33 



Appendix A. Scientific and common names of plants 37 



Appendix B. Scientific and common names of animals 40 



Appendix C. Glossary of terms 42 



Appendix D. Criteria for distinguishing organic 



soils from mineral soils 44 



Appendix E. Artificial key to the systems 46 



Artificial key to the classes 46 



