What makes a bog

Fungi and low-lying shrubs, such as heather, grow in histosol. Heather can grow directly on sphagnum moss. In fact, bogs are often called "heaths" after the abundance of heather that blankets them. Peatlands Thick, spongy layers of histosol eventually form peat. Peat is a fossil fuel that is the first stage in the long process of plant material turning into coal. Ancient bog plants, mostly sphagnum moss, are the fossils in peat. People have harvested peat for thousands of years.

It is a source of energy for heating, insulation , and electricity throughout northern Europe. Thousands of bogs throughout Ireland, Scotland, Scandinavia, and Russia have been drained for peat excavation.

Thick blocks of peat are cut and allowed to dry. The blocks are then burned. In some places, such as Ireland, peat is an industrial fuel for electricity and heating. In places like Scotland or Scandinavia, individuals or communities harvest peat for use as a cooking fuel.

Tropical peatlands, located mostly in southeast Asia, are sources of valuable timber. They are also popular sites to drain for development. Dried peat is also used in agriculture. Peat, sometimes called "peat moss," increases soil's ability to retain water. Bog Ecology Bogs are ecologically important because they absorb great amounts of precipitation. They prevent flooding and absorb runoff. Sphagnum moss, reeds, sedges, and heather are common bog plants. Bogs that receive all their water from precipitation not lakes, glaciers or groundwater are ombrotrophic.

Ombrotrophic bogs have very few nutrients, making it difficult for many common plants to survive. Carnivorous plants have adapted to ombrotrophic environments by not absorbing nutrients from the surrounding water, but from insect prey. These carnivorous plants, such as sundews and pitcher plants, trap insects and dissolve them for nutrients. Bogs that are fed by lake basins and other water sources have even more biodiversity.

Plants that grow in these bogs include cranberries, blueberries, and huckleberries. Insects thrive in muddy bogs and consume plants, fungi, and pollen.

Many bog insects, such as the hairy canary fly, do not live in any other ecosystem. The hairy canary fly named because of its yellow coloring is an indicator species for European bogs. Bog plants and insects support a wide variety of other organisms. Amphibians, such as frogs, salamanders, and newts, thrive in insect-rich bogs.

Threatened species of cranes nest in bogs and peatlands in North America and Siberia. Raccoons are one of the largest mammals able to make their homes in bogs, although moose, beaver, and river otters often visit bogs to feed or find shelter. Climate Change Peat bogs are carbon sink s, meaning they store enormous amounts of carbon, in a process called carbon sequestration. Carbon sequestration is a process where carbon dioxide is captured and removed from the atmosphere.

The carbon is stored, or sequestered, in a natural or artificial facility. Plants are a major source of carbon in the environment. Orchids, water lilies, pickerel weed, cranberries and blueberries also grow in bogs. Insect-eating plants like pitcher plants and sundew often are found in bogs.

They get a lot of the nutrients they need to survive from the insects they eat, so they can thrive in a bog's nutrient-poor soil. Turtles, frogs, insects and insect-eating birds are also common in bogs.

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. Unlike blanket bog, which smothers vast tracts of the uplands, raised bogs are discrete entities, often individually named, and are mostly found within agricultural landscapes in the lowlands.

Few raised bogs remain intact, but the best are often nature reserves, where boardwalks commonly provide access to the otherwise rather tricky terrain. What is it? Why is it like this? Distribution in the UK Raised bogs are widely but unevenly distributed across wetter parts of the UK, with particular concentrations in the central belt of Scotland, the Solway region, around Morecambe Bay and in Northern Ireland.

What to look for Within the bog vegetation, look closely for a number of particularly small, attractive plants, including cranberry and bog-rosemary. Conservation Raised bogs have generally been cut for peat, afforested or drained, and fully intact examples complete with a marginal lagg are unknown in Europe. Lowland blanket bog is formed below the metre contour line. Mountain blanket bog forms in areas above the metre contour line in the west of Ireland and in mountainous regions throughout the country, on slopes of up to 20 degrees.

E-mail: claraguides housing. The 1 km looped boardwalk on Clara Bog Nature Reserve is accessible at all times. Please check back or on our Facebook page for updates. Clara Bog Nature Reserve. Fens At the end of the last Ice Age about 10, years ago, peat formation began in Ireland. Pollardstown Fen, Co.

Raised bog in Clara, Co. Blanket bog, Slieve Blooms Mountains, Co. Opening Times Monday - Friday: