Man-made versions need right microbes.

• Position: Wetlands - Brief article

Wetlands are like the Earth's kidneys. They filter and clean people's water supplies while serving as important habitats for many species, including iconic species like cattails, cranes, and alligators. Conventional ecosystem health assessments have focused on populations of these larger species. However, the tiny, unseen creatures in the wetlands provided crucial indicators of the ecosystems' health in a study by the University of Missouri, Columbia.

Using analysis of the microbiological health of wetlands is cheaper and faster than traditional assessments, and could lead to improvements in harnessing natural processes to filter human's wastewater, according to Zhiqiang Hu, associate professor of engineering.

"During road and building construction, engineers must sacrifice wetlands to development, but laws dictate that these lost wetlands be compensated for by establishing a wetland somewhere else," explains Hu.

"Our research could be applied to both monitor the success of these compensation wetlands and guide...