Wetlands is the definitive guide to this fragile ecosystem, providing the most comprehensive coverage and in-depth information available in print. Recently updated and expanded, this latest edition contains brand new information on wetland ecosystem services and an updated discussion on climate change and wetland creation and restoration efforts.

Readers will gain a solid understanding of wetlands, how they work, what they do, and why the Earth can't live without them.

A generation of ecologists, ecological engineers, land use planners, and water resource managers worldwide owe their knowledge of the wetlands to this book ? for the next generation to follow in their footsteps, Wetlands 6th edition is the quintessential guide to these critical systems.

William J. Mitsch, PhD, is Professor and Director of the Everglade Wetland Research Park at Florida Gulf Coast University and Juliet C. Sproul Chair for Southwest Florida Habitat Restoration and Management. In 2004 he was co-winner of the Stockhold Water Prize.

James G. Gosselink, PhD (deceased), was Professor at the Center for Coast and Environment at Louisiana State University. In 1998 he received the Society of Wetland Scientists Lifetime Achievement Award.

Christopher J. Anderson, PhD, is head of the Wetland and Riparian Ecology Lab at Auburn University, which examines the effects of human activity on aquatic and riparian ecosystems.

M. Siobhan Fennessy, PhD, is Professor of Environment Studies and Biology at Kenyon College. Her research focuses on wetland plant species diversity and its responses to man-made impact.

Part I Introduction
1 Wetland History and Science
2 Wetland Definitions
3 The World's Wetlands

Part II The Wetland Environment
4 Wetland Hydrology
5 Wetland Soils
6 Wetland Biogeochemistry
7 Wetland Vegetation and Succession

Part III Wetland Ecosystems
8 Coastal Wetlands
9 Freshwater Marshes and Swamps
10 Peatlands

Part IV Wetland Management
11 Wetland Classification and Mapping
12 Wetland Laws and Protection
13 Wetland Ecosystem Services
14 Wetland Creation and Restoration
15 Wetlands and Water Quality
16 Wetlands and Climate Change