• wiaEnglish
      72·
      6 months ago

      Wildlife biologist here, Absolutely.

      Oddly enough I usually see/write it fen/bog marsh. There are tons of other qualifiers too, like salt marsh, tidal marsh and such.

      The same applies for all 4 examples if it’s needed. Salt swamps and fresh water swamps and such.

      • NielsBohron@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        6 months ago

        Oddly enough I usually see/write it fen/bog marsh.

        I was going to ask about the order of adjectives, actually, since I find esoteric grammar rules oddly interesting and have been on a bit of a “adjectives hierarchy” kick lately.

      • Pilon23@feddit.dkEnglish
        1·
        6 months ago

        Are any of the combinations more prevalent than others? E.g. do bogs/fens encourage or discourage trees from growing?

        • wiaEnglish
          3·
          6 months ago

          I don’t specialize in that particular area so I couldn’t say honestly.

          My primary focus when I did was just dealing with the Everglades and surroundings for the most part.

          Worldwide I’m not sure I could even guess what should be more common.

          Canada has those prairie potholes which are usually marshes and Canada is huge, so maybe sheer numbers it could be something like that, but by size you get things like the Everglades. I’m sure someone knows though, just not me.

      • livus@mander.xyzEnglish
        1·
        6 months ago

        I find this definition a lot more compelling than the one in the meme.

        In other words it’s more to do with geology and how the wetland has formed from groundwater vs water flow, than it is to do with characteristics like ph and trees - those things sort of proceed from the basic structure.

        • wiaEnglish
          2·
          6 months ago

          Usually what happens is whoever needs to know has their own specific way of determining the thing.

          As a wildlife biologist, the meme description is pretty good and would suffice for just about anything I need. The present or recent past circumstances are the most important to my work.

          If I were interested in the geology, or say ground water, earth studiesor, or even the more distant past then this definition you share becomes more useful.

          There are going to be even more criteria that apply for different groups, and even sometimes none of these definitions we’ve seen would matter because you only care if it sustains a specific species or something even less obvious.

    • Pilon23@feddit.dkEnglish
      12·
      6 months ago

      I’m also curious. Can’t find a way to subscribe to a thread, so I’m leaving a comment to check back later

    • NeatNit@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
      14·
      6 months ago

      I think this is more to do with scientists’ definitions than English in general. See also: what is and isn’t a nut, what is and isn’t a vegetable, is there such thing as a fish.

  • SomeAmateur@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    12·
    6 months ago

    I never knew the fen/bog part! The only reason I knew swamps from marshes is from labeling them in OpenStreetMap

    • scbasteve7@lemm.eeEnglish
      6·
      6 months ago

      Just from what I found, swamps are wetlands with woody vegetation being what DOMINATLY inhibits it. So if it’s mixed, find out what there is more of. If it’s 50/50, I guess the universe collapses.

      And a wetland with a neutral ph is just called a neutral wetland.

    • psud@aussie.zoneEnglish
      3·
      6 months ago

      Fen the wetland type or fen the plural of (sci fi/fantasy) fan? Or had you heard of neither?

      • ThirdWorldOrder@lemm.eeEnglish
        4·
        6 months ago

        Sounds like it could be the name of a Hobbit. But no, never heard the word used before. I’m from Georgia and live in Virginia. Never been to a mountain wetland or to middle earth

        • psud@aussie.zoneEnglish
          2·
          6 months ago

          I think I have only heard the term in:

          • The plural of fan: sci fi stories set in the distant future of 1990, also in early internet fandom
          • The wetland: stories from the UK, embedded in British place names, having a British parent

          I wonder what sort of wetland my local one is, and the nearby swampy grasslands. Both are watered by rain or snowmelt. Both are marked as wetlands on maps

      • ThirdWorldOrder@lemm.eeEnglish
        1·
        6 months ago

        That’s because the old Something Awful forums ruined fantasy books back for me in the early 2000’s when the big series was ASOIAF. Going from GRRM to Sanderson, Hobbs, Abercrombie etc… just doesn’t hit the same. It’s like going from crack to whippets.

  • Dagwood222@lemm.eeEnglish
    5·
    6 months ago

    So, it would be a swampy bog and a marshy fen, but not a boggy swamp or a fenny marsh?