Largest reed bed

A reed bed is a type of wetland dominated by common reed (Phragmites australis) a tall grass that is one of the most widely distributed wetland plants in the world. The Danube River Delta, which is located in Romania and Ukraine, started forming around 11,700 years ago by sediments washed into the Black Sea. It consists of natural canals, lakes and ponds and is growing by around 24 metres (78 feet) per year into the Black Sea. The Danube Delta is also home to a reed bed, which covers an area of 1,563 square kilometres (603 square miles), and the delta as a whole hosts more than 300 species of birds and 45 species of freshwater fish.

The Danube Delta is the largest wetland in Europe.

By comparison, the largest reed “field” – i.e., an area of reed cultivation for human use – as recently as 1953 covered more than 1,000 square kilometres (386 square miles) of the Liaohe River delta in Lianoning Province in north-eastern China. Due to agriculture and oil field development, which decreased reed bed area, interspersed with periods of reed cultivation, which increased reed bed area, the area covered by reed decreased from 857 square kilometres (330 square miles) in 2003 to 786 square kilometres (303 square miles) in 2009. The wetland has been intensively managed to increase reed production for use in the paper industry, and about 800 square kilometres (308 square miles) of the bed was devoted to reed culture during the 1990s. This cultivation has resulted in the conservation of the wetland for wildlife and other ecosystem services, as well as economic benefits to local communities.