Managing our Wetlands: some result of the function of a Wetland in Perak, Malaysia

The global extent of wetlands is estimated to be from 7 to 8 million km2 and, compared to other ecosystems; wetlands are an extremely productive part of the landscape with average annual production above 1000gC m-2 yr-1. In Malaysia and other developing countries, the wetlands are becoming a threate...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Wan Ruslan Ismail, Ahyauddin Ali
Format: Article
Published: Environmental Management Society, Malaysia 2002
Online Access:http://journalarticle.ukm.my/2181/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/2181/
id ukm-2181
recordtype eprints
spelling ukm-21812011-07-05T04:18:27Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/2181/ Managing our Wetlands: some result of the function of a Wetland in Perak, Malaysia Wan Ruslan Ismail, Ahyauddin Ali, The global extent of wetlands is estimated to be from 7 to 8 million km2 and, compared to other ecosystems; wetlands are an extremely productive part of the landscape with average annual production above 1000gC m-2 yr-1. In Malaysia and other developing countries, the wetlands are becoming a threatened landscape especially due to development. Based on this scenario of the depleting wetland of the world, a study was carried out to investigate the form and function of natural wetland in regulating floodwaters and nutrients input and output. A Beriah swamp in north Perak was chosen as a wetland ecosystem for this study. Input of water and nutrients to the wetland and the output from the wetland were investigated. Result indicated that generally a swamp does act as nutrient in the system. The dissolved loads were being added in the swamp or wetland system and flushed out of the swamp ecosystem. Individual evaluation of the nutrient shows that the nitrogen component (nitrate and ammonia) was retained in the wetland system, whereas phosphate and TSS were ‘generated’ and flushed out of the system. The way in which nitrate and ammonia was transported shows that Beriah Swamp does act as nutrient trap, as has been observed elsewhere. The dampening effect of the oscillation on discharge and solute loads was also observed to take place in this short-term study. This paper end with discussions on the challenges faced by many wetlands of the world in the 21st century Environmental Management Society, Malaysia 2002 Article PeerReviewed Wan Ruslan Ismail, and Ahyauddin Ali, (2002) Managing our Wetlands: some result of the function of a Wetland in Perak, Malaysia. Malaysian Journal of Environmental Management, 3 . pp. 83-105. ISSN 1511-7855 http://www.ems-malaysia.org/mjem/index.html
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Local University
institution Universiti Kebangasaan Malaysia
building UKM Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description The global extent of wetlands is estimated to be from 7 to 8 million km2 and, compared to other ecosystems; wetlands are an extremely productive part of the landscape with average annual production above 1000gC m-2 yr-1. In Malaysia and other developing countries, the wetlands are becoming a threatened landscape especially due to development. Based on this scenario of the depleting wetland of the world, a study was carried out to investigate the form and function of natural wetland in regulating floodwaters and nutrients input and output. A Beriah swamp in north Perak was chosen as a wetland ecosystem for this study. Input of water and nutrients to the wetland and the output from the wetland were investigated. Result indicated that generally a swamp does act as nutrient in the system. The dissolved loads were being added in the swamp or wetland system and flushed out of the swamp ecosystem. Individual evaluation of the nutrient shows that the nitrogen component (nitrate and ammonia) was retained in the wetland system, whereas phosphate and TSS were ‘generated’ and flushed out of the system. The way in which nitrate and ammonia was transported shows that Beriah Swamp does act as nutrient trap, as has been observed elsewhere. The dampening effect of the oscillation on discharge and solute loads was also observed to take place in this short-term study. This paper end with discussions on the challenges faced by many wetlands of the world in the 21st century
format Article
author Wan Ruslan Ismail,
Ahyauddin Ali,
spellingShingle Wan Ruslan Ismail,
Ahyauddin Ali,
Managing our Wetlands: some result of the function of a Wetland in Perak, Malaysia
author_facet Wan Ruslan Ismail,
Ahyauddin Ali,
author_sort Wan Ruslan Ismail,
title Managing our Wetlands: some result of the function of a Wetland in Perak, Malaysia
title_short Managing our Wetlands: some result of the function of a Wetland in Perak, Malaysia
title_full Managing our Wetlands: some result of the function of a Wetland in Perak, Malaysia
title_fullStr Managing our Wetlands: some result of the function of a Wetland in Perak, Malaysia
title_full_unstemmed Managing our Wetlands: some result of the function of a Wetland in Perak, Malaysia
title_sort managing our wetlands: some result of the function of a wetland in perak, malaysia
publisher Environmental Management Society, Malaysia
publishDate 2002
url http://journalarticle.ukm.my/2181/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/2181/
first_indexed 2023-09-18T19:35:24Z
last_indexed 2023-09-18T19:35:24Z
_version_ 1777405237564276736