There aren't many fish in bogs because of the low levels of oxygen in the water. Mammals like the snowshoe hare, moose , beaver and muskrat can also be found in and around bogs. And on a gruesome note: Preserved bodies are sometimes found in bogs! Because decomposition happens so slowly, anything that falls into a bog, including animals and people, can be preserved for long periods of time!
Pocosins are evergreen shrub bogs found on the coastal plains of the southeastern United States from Virginia to Florida. They are most common in North Carolina. Pocosins are often found between coastal freshwater marshes and deepwater swamp forests. There are two types of pocosins, short and tall. Short pocosins have tress that are less than 20 feet tall. Tall pocosins have trees that are over 20 feet tall. Because the water surface is trapped among a dense network of Sphagnum stems and leaves, water movement is almost completely lacking, and temperature exchange between water and air is severely restricted.
As compared to the surrounding areas, the vegetation period of bogs may be shortened by months. Fens are a stage in the succession from open-water ponds or shallow lakes to ombrotrophic bogs.
They are minerotrophic, i. Peat depth of fens is generally less than 2 meters. When a fen reaches the stage where its peat moss blanket loses contact to the ground water, climatic and environmental conditions determine its succession to a bog or to a terrestrial forest.
Fen with sedges. Development of bogs is a very slow process that often started already at the end of the last glacial age up to 10, years ago. Shallow lakes formed in glacier beds that were sealed by clay sediments. Under appropriate conditions, these poorly-drained basins were gradually covered with peat moss and typical fen vegetation, and eventually filled up with fen peat.
In excessively wet climates, raised bogs were subsequently created by the continued growth of peat moss without any access to the ground water. Because of the different growth characteristics of peat moss species, bog surfaces are structured. Water-filled depressions hollows create small bog pools. Raised areas hummocks can unite to form ridges strings. If these strings enclose hollows, the resulting bog pools are referred to as "flarks".
Relatively dry tops of hummocks allow the growth of certain vascular plants and even stunted trees. At the bog margin, the peat moss growth can expand laterally by a rising water table, thus extending the bog area. Lack of oxygen in the stagnant bog water, plus acids released from the plants, inhibit bacteria.
Without bacteria, dead things don't decompose. The soil in a bog is stingy - it doesn't give up its nutrients easily. More on this later.
Northern European bogs have long been mined for peat which is burned to heat homes and generate electricity this is even dirtier than coal. Over 1, dead human bodies have been discovered in these European bogs, most around 2, years old!
Check this out! Peat in a bag or peat in a bog? Or, "Why do we put peat in our garden if it is nutrient poor? The nutrients are just trapped. When released from a bog and exposed to oxygen and bacteria, the nutrients quickly become available.
The peat we buy at our favorite garden center very likely comes from a peatland which will never be the same after its soil is removed. Composting and using other alternatives to peat for our gardens helps to protect bogs.
Do Tell more about sphagnum! Sphagnum moss is the building blocks of bogs. The various species of sphagnum are super absorbent and acid producing. Sphagnum carpets bogs, holding in moisture and even wicking it up above the water table.
Its acidity made it useful as a sterile field dressing for battle wounds in early battles such as WWI and earlier. Its absorbency was appreciated by Native American moms who lined their baby's cradle boards with it as an early disposable and biodegradable diaper!
Sphagnum species. Enhanced N deposition can increase the cover of some tall sedges and grasses to the detriment, potentially, of dwarf shrubs, Drosera species and lower plants, through shading. N enrichment disturbs the competitive balance between grasses and dwarf shrubs as the latter can rarely sustain their initial growth stimulation that can accompany N enrichment of bogs.
Ammonia presents a much bigger threat to bogs per unit N deposited than wet deposited N, reflecting the rapid, large perturbations which cause species eradication. The likelihood of invasive species being able to exploit the increased N availability on bogs and out compete native species will be greater in bogs surrounded by farmland or major roads which provide a reservoir of seed bearing grasses and ruderal plants.
Bogs in rural areas with elevated background concentrations, for example close to intensive livestock agriculture. All areas potentially but upland areas tend to be most at risk. Bogs at high altitudes will see orographic enhancement larger volumes but lower concentrations and occult deposition higher concentrations. These depend on the extent of the deposition and form of the N but relatively robust examples include :.
Some examples of specific responses are given in the table below. This does not represent a comprehensive review of all species impacts.
Increase in vascular plants, altered growth and species composition of bryophytes, increased N in peat and peat water. Skip to main content. Home Nitrogen deposition :: Bogs. Nitrogen deposition :: Bogs. Effects and implications N can cause visible damage in S.
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