Editing Bog (section)

==Distribution and extent==
[[File:Sarracenia purpurea westphalia.jpg|thumb|Carnivorous plants, such as this ''[[Sarracenia purpurea]]'' pitcher plant of the eastern seaboard of North America, are often found in bogs. Capturing insects provides nitrogen and phosphorus, which are usually scarce in such conditions.]]
Bogs are widely distributed in cold, [[temperate]] [[clime]]s, mostly in [[boreal ecosystem]]s in the [[Northern Hemisphere]]. The world's largest wetland is the peat bogs of the Western [[Siberia]]n Lowlands in Russia, which cover more than a million square kilometres.<ref name="P.A. Keddy 2005">{{cite book |editor-first1=L.H. |editor-last1=Fraser |editor-first2=P.A. |editor-last2=Keddy |date=2005 |title=The World's Largest Wetlands: Ecology and Conservation |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, UK |isbn=9780521834049}}</ref> Large peat bogs also occur in North America, particularly the [[Hudson Bay Lowland]] and the Mackenzie River Basin.<ref name="P.A. Keddy 2005"/> They are less common in the [[Southern Hemisphere]], with the largest being the [[Magellanic subpolar forests|Magellanic moorland]], comprising some {{convert|44000|km2}} in southern South America. [[Sphagnum]] bogs were widespread in northern Europe<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fao.org/ag/AGP/AGPC/doc/Counprof/Latvia/Latvia.htm#3.CLIMATE |title=Country Pasture/Forage Resource Profiles: Latvia |first=Alexander |last=Adamovich |date=2005 |publisher=Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations |access-date=23 April 2010 |archive-date=11 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170811153638/http://www.fao.org/ag/agp/agpc/doc/Counprof/Latvia/Latvia.htm#3.CLIMATE }}</ref> but have often been cleared and drained for agriculture. A paper led by [[Graeme T. Swindles]] in 2019 showed that peatlands across Europe have undergone rapid drying in recent centuries owing to human impacts including drainage, peat cutting and burning.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Swindles|first1=Graeme T.|last2=Morris|first2=Paul J.|last3=Mullan|first3=Donal J.|last4=Payne|first4=Richard J.|last5=Roland|first5=Thomas P.|last6=Amesbury|first6=Matthew J.|last7=Lamentowicz|first7=Mariusz|last8=Turner|first8=T. Edward|last9=Gallego-Sala|first9=Angela|last10=Sim|first10=Thomas|last11=Barr|first11=Iestyn D. |date=2019-10-21|title=Widespread drying of European peatlands in recent centuries|url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-019-0462-z|journal=Nature Geoscience |language=en |volume=12|issue=11|pages=922–928|doi=10.1038/s41561-019-0462-z|bibcode=2019NatGe..12..922S|s2cid=202908362|issn=1752-0908|hdl=10871/39305|hdl-access=free}} [http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/151050/ Alt URL]</ref>
A 2014 expedition leaving from Itanga village, [[Republic of the Congo]], discovered a peat bog "as big as England" which stretches into neighboring [[Democratic Republic of Congo]].<ref>{{Cite news
| last = Smith
| first = David
| title = Peat bog as big as England found in Congo
| newspaper = The Guardian
| access-date = 31 May 2014
| date = 27 May 2014
| url = https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/27/peat-bog-swamp-congo-brazzaville-discovery
}}</ref>