Biogeochemical assessment of elements in AL-Hammar marsh by using GIS

The present book is a thesis submitted to the University of Baghdad, College of Science for Women, Biology Department. In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Ecology- Ecological Pollution. Supervised by Prof. Dr. Abd Al-Rahman Al-Kubaysi and Prof. Dr. Adnan H. Afaj. Wetlands are transitional areas between terrestrial and aquatic systems where the water table is usually near or above the land surface (Mitsch and Gosselink, 2000). Wetlands are generally defined as ¿those areas that are saturated by surface water or groundwater at frequency and duration sufficient to support a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions (Richardson and Najah, 2006, USEPA, 2002). Wetland means simply the land that is wet, the land that is saturated with water. It have been developed both to described ecosystem function and to determine the importance of wetlands as sources, sinks, and transforms of chemicals (Richardson, et al; 2005).The three component are basis of wetland deification: Hydrology, physiochemical environment and biota.