5/29/2023 0 Comments Bog creeprMany bog insects, such as the hairy canary fly, do not live in any other ecosystem. Insects thrive in muddy bogs and consume plants, fungi, and pollen. Plants that grow in these bogs include cranberries, blueberries, and huckleberries. Bogs that are fed by lake basins and other water sources have even more biodiversity. These carnivorous plants, such as sundews and pitcher plants, trap insects and dissolve them for nutrients. Carnivorous plants have adapted to ombrotrophic environments by not absorbing nutrients from the surrounding water, but from insect prey. Ombrotrophic bogs have very few nutrients, making it difficult for many common plants to survive. Bogs that receive all their water from precipitation (not lakes, glaciers or groundwater) are ombrotrophic. Sphagnum moss, reeds, sedges, and heather are common bog plants. Bog Ecology Bogs are ecologically important because they absorb great amounts of precipitation. Peat, sometimes called "peat moss," increases soil's ability to retain water. They are also popular sites to drain for development. Tropical peatlands, located mostly in southeast Asia, are sources of valuable timber. In places like Scotland or Scandinavia, individuals or communities harvest peat for use as a cooking fuel. In some places, such as Ireland, peat is an industrial fuel for electricity and heating. Thick blocks of peat are cut and allowed to dry. Thousands of bogs throughout Ireland, Scotland, Scandinavia, and Russia have been drained for peat excavation. It is a source of energy for heating, insulation, and electricity throughout northern Europe. People have harvested peat for thousands of years. Ancient bog plants, mostly sphagnum moss, are the fossils in peat. Peat is a fossil fuel that is the first stage in the long process of plant material turning into coal. Peatlands Thick, spongy layers of histosol eventually form peat. In fact, bogs are often called "heaths" after the abundance of heather that blankets them. Heather can grow directly on sphagnum moss. Fungi and low-lying shrubs, such as heather, grow in histosol. These slowly decaying plants become the main components of the bog's soggy soil, called histosol. Eventually, watery bogs become choked with living and decaying plants. Bog soils are oxygen- and nutrient-poor, and are much more acidic than other soils. Plants decay slowly in bogs, because flooding prevents a healthy flow of oxygen from the atmosphere. Bogs can also form when the sphagnum moss covers dry land and prevents precipitation from evaporating. The vegetation eventually covers the lake's entire surface. Sphagnum moss, as well as other plants, grow out from the lake's edge. A bog is formed when a lake slowly fills with plant debris. All bogs take hundreds or thousands of years to develop. String bogs have a varied landscape, with low-lying "islands" interrupting the saturated bog ecosystem. Raised bogs are vaguely dome-shaped, as decaying vegetation accumulates in the center. Quaking bogs bounce when people or animals walk on them, giving them their name. Quaking bogs develop over a lake or pond, with bog mats (thick layers of vegetation) about a meter (3 feet) thick on top. Cataract bogs are ecosystems that feature a permanent freshwater stream. Blanket bogs develop in highland areas with significant rainfall: the bog "blankets" an entire area, including hills and valleys. There are several distinct types of bog habitats. The Western Siberian Lowlands cover more than a million square kilometers (386,102 square miles). The world's largest wetland is a series of bogs in the Siberia region of Russia. They often develop in poorly draining lake basins created by glaciers during the most recent ice age. Bogs are generally found in cool, northern climates. A bog is a freshwater wetland of soft, spongy ground consisting mainly of partially decayed plant matter called peat.
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