A region of mountains, plateaus, and densely forested valley bottoms, the borthern boreal mountains are also characterized by lowland wetlands. Two wetland types are common: bogs and fens. In addition to water, both are characterized by peat — poorly decomposed vegetation — at least 40 cm deep. Often referred to as muskeg in northern boreal and arctic regions, bogs and fens provide important ecosystem services.
They provide habitat for species like the threatened woodland caribou. Bogs and fens also store carbon and help mitigate climate change.
Bogs store and release water to and from the surrounding land, but are not connected to a system of lakes or streams. The peatland functions to store water, support local agriculture in the form of livestock grazing, provide opportunities for tourism, crucial conservation areas for plant and animals, especially species at risk and scientific research.
Peatlands directly or indirectly influence local communities by controlling freshwater quality and quantity, and hydrologic integrity.
Indigenous people used peatlands for collecting wild plants and hunting. Peatlands are generally divided into two categories: bogs and fens.
Both are permanently saturated wetlands. Bogs receive water and nutrients only from the atmospheric precipitation. Thus bogs are found only in areas with abundant rainfall. Photo by Linnea Hanson. Fens receive significant water and nutrients from a ground source of water. In California, the summer dry climate makes it impossible for bogs to form. However, ground water fed fens are widespread in the mountains of the Sierra Nevada, coast range and southern Cascades.
Photo by Harold Carlson. There are three types of meadows in the mountains of California: dry meadows, wet meadows, and peatlands. All meadows have sparse or no tree cover and have at least seasonally saturated soils. Peatlands were discussed above. Wet meadows are wet for one to two months of the summer and peatlands are typically saturated for the entire summer. All three types may occur within individual meadows and form meadow complexes.
Fens are important for their biological diversity and hydrologic characteristics in the forest ecosystem. Breadcrumb Home Celebrating Wildflowers. What is a Fen? Swamps Swamps are wetlands that are dominated by woody plants. Marshes Marshes are wetlands that are frequently or continually inundated and are dominated by herbaceous plant species adapted to these hydrologic conditions.
Celebrating Wildflowers. Fens near each other can form bogs. Swamps are forested, marshes are populated by herbaceous plants. Bogs accumulate peat. Fens have neutral or alkaline water chemistry.
The types can overlap. Surprisingly, there are some subtle differences between these habitats. They are all considered wetland habitats as they are periodically inundated with freshwater.
Swamps - generally have slow-moving water and reside adjacent to rivers or other moving bodies of water. The level of water in a swamp can vary considerably with the adjacent river. Marsh - Also a wetland that is adjacent to a moving body of water, but tends to not have much water movement.
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