A River Sometimes Runs Through It

Rivers and streams routinely rise, often overflowing their banks, flooding the broad, flat adjacent areas appropriately called floodplains. Once the rain stops or the snow has finished melting, streams return to the confines of their banks. Some floodplains will dry out considerably after flood events that come most typically in the spring. However, many floodplains hold water or stay moist all year round due to ground water that flows close to or on the surface. Also, the topography and soils of many floodplains conspire to form pockets where water pools and drains very slowly. These pools, often classified as vernal (spring) pools, provide habitat for a variety of breeding amphibians as well as insects and numerous other invertebrates.

Today's photo, by WPC Ecologist Jeff Wagner, is a palustrine forest dominated by hickories (Carya spp.) along Cussewago Creek in Crawford County. Note the patches of open soil where water lays through most of the year. Palustrine comes from the Latin root palus meaning “marsh.” These wetlands are not aquatic (open water) and, therefore, are usually referred to as palustrine.

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