Freshwater marshes

Freshwater marsh vegetation varies depending on the water depth and the duration of dry periods. It can vary from reedbeds along lake shores, to wet (grazed) grasslands found in deltas or in floodplains along the main rivers.

For centuries now, man has gradually been draining many marshes, which were thought to be hard to exploit and full of illnesses. In the south Mediterranean, the presence of malaria and other water-borne illnesses was often the primary reason for their demise – which in a second phase served agricultural interests too. Out of the many hundreds of freshwater marshes that used to line the Mediterranean coast, very few have survived till now.

This is despite the many vital roles that these habitats play :

• they store water, thus contributing to alleviating floods downstream ;
• they purify water, especially through the absorption of nutriments by the high variety of marsh plants ;
• they host a very rich wildlife. Fish and amphibians breed in them, and feed on the millions of insects that emerge from these shallow waters. Many rare species only live in these habitats, such as the Bittern or the Azraq Killifish ;
• they provide extensive grazing lands for cattle, horses and buffaloes, e.g. in the Camargue, in  Italy, Turkey, the Balearic islands, Tunisia and north-east Algeria.