Contents 



Page 



Abstract 1 



Wetlands and Deepwater Habitats 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 7 



Lacustrine System 9 



Palustrine System 10 



Classes, Subclasses, and Dominance Types 10 



Rock Bottom 13 



Unconsolidated Bottom 14 



Aquatic Bed 15 



Reef 16 



Streambed 16 



Rocky Shore 17 



Unconsolidated Shore 18 



Moss-Lichen Wetland 19 



Emergent Wetland 19 



Scrub-Shrub Wetland 20 



Forested Wetland 20 



Modifiers 21 



Water Regime Modifiers 21 



Water Chemistry Modifiers 22 



Salinity Modifiers 22 



pH Modifiers 23 



Soil Modifiers 23 



Special Modifiers 24 



Regionalization for the Classification System 24 



Use of the Classification System 26 



Hierarchical Levels and Modifiers 27 



Relationship to Other Wetland Classifications 27 



Acknowledgments 31 



References 31 



Appendix A. Scientific and common names of plants 35 



Appendix B. Scientific and common names of animals 38 



Appendix C. Glossary of terms 40 



Appendix D. Criteria for distinguishing organic 



soils from mineral soils 42 



Appendix E. Artificial key to the Systems 44 



Artificial key to the Classes 44 



