A paludarium is a type of vivarium

Vivarium

A vivarium is a usually enclosed area for keeping and raising animals or plants for observation or research...

 that incorporates both terrestrial and aquatic

Aquarium

An aquarium is a vivarium consisting of at least one transparent side in which water-dwelling plants or animals are kept. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, marine mammals, turtles, and aquatic plants...

 elements. Paludaria (or paludariums) usually consist of an enclosed container in which organisms specific to the biome

Biome

Biomes are climatically and geographically defined as similar climatic conditions on the Earth, such as communities of plants, animals, and soil organisms, and are often referred to as ecosystems. Some parts of the earth have more or less the same kind of abiotic and biotic factors spread over a...

 being simulated are kept. They may be maintained for purely aesthetic reasons or for scientific or horticultural

Horticulture

Horticulture is the industry and science of plant cultivation including the process of preparing soil for the planting of seeds, tubers, or cuttings. Horticulturists work and conduct research in the disciplines of plant propagation and cultivation, crop production, plant breeding and genetic...

 purposes. The word 'paludarium' comes from the Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

 word 'palus' meaning marsh or swamp and '-arium' which refers to an enclosed container.

Paludaria can range in size from small, easily-displayed boxes to biospheres large enough to contain entire trees. A prominent example of a very large paludarium is the rainforest exhibit at the Montreal Biodome

Montreal Biodome

The Montreal Biodome is a facility located in Montreal that allows visitors to walk through replicas of four ecosystems found in the Americas. The building was originally constructed for the 1976 Olympic Games as a velodrome. It hosted both track cycling and judo events...

.

Flora and fauna

Since paludaria encompass water, land and air, many different types of fauna can be encompassed in the enclosure. While amphibians, fish

Fish

Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...

 and reptiles are the most common, people have kept insects and even birds in them. The animals that are most suited for a paludarium are the animals that naturally live in water/land type environments, swamps, marshes or mangroves.

Flora suited for paludaria include plants that thrive in very humid environments or wetland areas. A common plant is the genus Anubias

Anubias

Anubias is a genus of aquatic and semi-aquatic flowering plants in the family Araceae, native to tropical central and western Africa. They primarily grow in rivers and streams, but can also be found in marshes. They are characterized by broad, thick, dark leaves that come in many different forms....

which is hardy and easy to maintain. The water-filled portion can also support many aquatic species.

See also

• Ecosphere
  Ecosphere
  Ecosphere has several different meanings:* In ecology the term ecosphere can refer to the Earth's spheres, a planetary ecosystem consisting of the atmosphere, the geosphere , the hydrosphere, and the biosphere....
  
  
• Closed ecological system
  Closed ecological system
  Closed ecological systems are ecosystems that do not rely on matter exchange with any part outside the system.The term is most often used to describe small manmade ecosystems...
  
  
• Ecosystem
  Ecosystem
  An ecosystem is a biological environment consisting of all the organisms living in a particular area, as well as all the nonliving , physical components of the environment with which the organisms interact, such as air, soil, water and sunlight....
  
  
• Biome
  Biome
  Biomes are climatically and geographically defined as similar climatic conditions on the Earth, such as communities of plants, animals, and soil organisms, and are often referred to as ecosystems. Some parts of the earth have more or less the same kind of abiotic and biotic factors spread over a...
  
  
• Biosphere
  Biosphere
  The biosphere is the global sum of all ecosystems. It can also be called the zone of life on Earth, a closed and self-regulating system...
  
  
• Biosphere 2
  Biosphere 2
  Biosphere 2 is a structure originally built to be an artificial, materially-closed ecological system in Oracle, Arizona by Space Biosphere Ventures, a joint venture whose principal officers were John P. Allen, inventor and Executive Director, and Margret Augustine, CEO...
  
  
• Biosphere 3
• Eden Project
  Eden Project
  The Eden Project is a visitor attraction in Cornwall in the United Kingdom, including the world's largest greenhouse. Inside the artificial biomes are plants that are collected from all around the world....
  
  
• Wardian case
  Wardian case
  The Wardian case, was an early type of sealed protective container for plants, which found great use in the 19th Century in protecting foreign plants imported to Europe from overseas, the great majority of which had previously died from exposure during long sea journeys, frustrating the many...
  
  
• Vivarium
  Vivarium
  A vivarium is a usually enclosed area for keeping and raising animals or plants for observation or research...
  
  
• Aquascaping
  Aquascaping
  Aquascaping is the craft of arranging aquatic plants, as well as rocks, stones, cavework, or driftwood, in an aesthetically pleasing manner within an aquarium—in effect, gardening under water. Aquascape designs include a number of distinct styles, including the garden-like Dutch style and the...