Status of the National Wetland Plant List

摘要

The National Wetland Plant List has undergone important taxonomic and nomenclatural changes since the first and only approved list of wetland plant indicator statuses was created in 1988. Regional and national revisions are ongoing, and wetland professionals can participate in recommending changes through an online platform. The author discusses what has happened to date and highlights future efforts. The effort to develop a comprehensive wetland plant list began with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) in 1976 and paralleled the development of their wetland classification system for the National Wetlands Inventory (NWI), which culminated in Classification of Wetlands and Deepwater Habitats of the United States in 1979 (Cowardin et al. 1979). A brief footnote in that publication mentions that the FWS intended to produce "a list of hydrophytes and other plants occurring in wetlands of the United States" for use in conjunction with the NWI.