Sphagnum bogs are a variety of wetlands. Sphagnum peat bog

In temperate latitudes, mainly in the forest and forest-tundra zones, a variety of wetlands is formed, such as sphagnum bogs. The predominant vegetation on them is sphagnum moss, due to which they received their name.

Description

These are the upper marshes, which are mainly formed in humid lowlands. Above, they are covered with a thick layer of sphagnum (white moss), which has a very high moisture capacity. It reproduces well, as a rule, only where there is an interlayer of humus.

Under the layer of this vegetation are acidic, poor in composition of water, with very little oxygen. Such conditions are absolutely unsuitable for the life of most living organisms, which include bacteria of decay. Therefore, fallen trees, pollen of plants, various organic substances do not decompose, remaining for thousands of years.

Varieties

Sphagnum bogs can be different in appearance. Often they have a convex shape, because moss grows more strongly closer to the center, where the mineralization of water is particularly small. On the periphery of the same conditions for its reproduction are less favorable. Sometimes there are marshes of flat form. There are also afforested and non-forested.

The first are characteristic for the eastern part of Europe and Siberia, where the continental climate is pronounced. Forestless sphagnum bogs are found in more humid climatic conditions, which are more characteristic of the western regions of the European territory.

Origin of the sphagnum bog

It is established that the first bogs were formed more than 400 million years ago. The modern sphagnum peat bog is the result of a long evolution. After the glacial period, water areas appeared, the main plants of which were peat and grass-forming grasses and mosses. The formation of peaty soils led to the formation of an acidic environment. As a result of interaction of various geological and physico-geographical factors, waterlogging of land or the gradual overgrowing of water bodies occurred. Some of the marshes have become uppermost: their food is completely connected with the atmospheric precipitation.

Sphagnum mount bogs are filled with water and look like lenses. In the precipitating sediments there are no mineral salts, therefore such mires of the plant are adapted to the lack of nutrition: mainly sphagnum mosses, grasses and small shrubs.

Peat formation

The dead particles of plants, which accumulate annually in the sphagnum bog, form quite large layers of organic matter. Gradually they turn into peat. This process is influenced by certain conditions: excessive moisture, low temperatures and almost complete absence of oxygen. The remains of all dead plants do not collapse, preserving their form and even pollen. Studying peat samples, scientists can establish how the climate in this region developed, and also how the change of forests occurred.

Sphagnum marshes store huge reserves of peat, which serves man as a fuel, so they are of great economic importance.

Sphagnum moss

The dominant role in the vegetation cover of the upper marshes is played by sphagnum moss. It has a very peculiar structure. Kidney-shaped branches are located on the top of the stem, in the lower part of it - whorls of long branches, located horizontally. The leaves consist of various cells, some of which perform certain vital functions and contain chlorophyll. Other cells empty, colorless and larger, are a receptacle of moisture, which is absorbed like a sponge through a variety of openings in the shell. They occupy ¾ of the entire surface of the sheet. Due to them, one part of the sphagnum is able to absorb water. Moss gives a good annual increase, only in one year it grows by 6-8 cm.

Other plants of sphagnum bogs

On a moss carpet, only plants that grow rhizome or slightly inclined are able to grow. These are mostly cotton grass, sedge, cloudberry, cranberry, and also some half-shrubs, whose branches can give subordinate roots when the lower part begins to hide in the thickness of the moss. Such plants also include heather, ledum, dwarf birch , etc. Cranberry spreads over the surface of moss with long whips, sundew every year forms a rosette of leaves lying on the carpet of sphagnum. Some herbaceous plants of Russia are also found here: sphagnum bogs are inhabited by sundew, pemphigus, sedge. In order not to be buried in sphagnum, they all have the ability to move their growth point higher and higher. Most plants are characterized by short stature and small evergreen leaves.

From the tree species in the swamp, you can often see the pine. Although it usually looks quite different than the one that grows on the sands. The trunk of a tree growing on dry land is usually slim, thick. The swamp pine is low (no more than two meters high), clumsy. Its needles are short, and the cones are very small. In the cross section of the thin trunk, you can see a large number of annual rings.

The trees inhabiting pine-sphagnum marshes do not have additional roots. Therefore, they gradually grow peat. Found at great depth, the roots can no longer supply enough moisture to the leaves, as a result of which the pine dries and dies.

The use of man's bogs

Great value is represented by bogs as sources of peat deposits used as fuel, and also as a source of electricity for a number of power plants. In addition, peat is used in agriculture: it goes to fertilizers, litter for livestock. In the industry, insulating boards, various chemical substances (methyl alcohol, paraffin, creosote, etc.) are made of it.

Of great economic importance are the upper sphagnum bogs, which are the main places for the growth of berry bushes: cranberries, cloudberries, blueberries.

Anthropogenic impact

Recently, economic activity, which man leads in swamps or adjacent areas, causes a change in marsh vegetation. Such impacts include dehumidification of swamps, fires, grazing, tree felling, laying of transport highways and oil pipelines. Plants of marshes located near industrial centers often suffer from atmospheric and soil pollution.

Clearing quarterly glades is accompanied by cutting down the pine, which leads to the growth of bog bush, which joins the birch. Sphagnum is gradually replaced by brittle mosses.

As a result of fires, which often occur in droughty periods, vegetation burns out. In these areas, the surface of the marsh is covered with a large amount of ash, which creates a reserve of mineral nutrients. This leads to the fact that on the spot of fires begins to grow abundantly cotton grass, blubber, blueberry, and a rosemary and birch.

Drainage of marshes is carried out with the purpose of peat extraction, agricultural development, forest growing, etc. At the same time, the level of soil and ground water decreases, oxidation processes and mineralization of organic substances develop. All this leads to a decrease in peat deposits, the growth of birch. Cranberries and cotton grass are gradually replaced by cloudberries, and sphagnum mosses are forested.

Any human impact on the swamp leads to a change in the normal functioning of the entire landscape and, as a result, to a disturbance of the ecological balance in nature.