“…Due to their location at the transitional zone between aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, wetlands are vital components of the natural environment. Studies have found that wetlands remove nutrients (Hill, 1996;Dørge, 1994;Brüsch and Nilsson, 1993;Devito and Dillon, 1993;Devito et al, 1989), metals (Crites et al, 1997;Sobelewski, 1996;Johnston et al, 1990) and sediments (Johnston et al, 1990;Gehrels and Mulamoottil, 1990) from surface waters. Moreover, wetlands have been shown to influence watershed SO 4 2 dynamics Devito and Hill, 1997;Devito, 1995;O'Brien et al, 1994;Lazerte, 1993;Bayley et al, 1986Bayley et al, , 1992Wieder and Lang, 1988).…”