Editing Bog (section)

== Ecology and protection ==
[[File:Tourbière 03 - Parc de Frontenac - Juillet 2008.jpg|thumb|An expanse of wet Sphagnum bog in [[Frontenac National Park]], [[Quebec]], Canada. Spruce trees can be seen on a forested ridge in the background.]]

There are many highly specialized animals, fungi, and plants associated with bog habitat. Most are capable of tolerating the combination of low nutrient levels and waterlogging.<ref name="Keddy" />{{rp|at=ch. 3}} Sphagnum is generally abundant, along with [[ericaceae|ericaceous]] shrubs.<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Home Organization Selection|url=https://docs.shib.ncsu.edu/ds/ncsu/WAYF?entityID=https%3a%2f%2fprox.lib.ncsu.edu%2fezproxy%2fshibboleth&return=https%3a%2f%2flogin.prox.lib.ncsu.edu%2fShibboleth.sso%2fDS%3fSAMLDS%3d1%26target%3dezp.2aHR0cHM6Ly9kb2kub3JnLzEwLjEwNDYvai4xMzY1LTI2OTkuMjAwMC4wMDQ1OC54|access-date=2021-02-23|website=docs.shib.ncsu.edu|doi=10.1046/j.1365-2699.2000.00458.x|s2cid = 84241035}}</ref> The shrubs are often evergreen, which may assist in conservation of nutrients.<ref>{{cite book |last=Keddy |first=P.A. |date=2007 |title=Plants and Vegetation: Origins, Processes, Consequences |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, UK |isbn=978-0521864800}}</ref> In drier locations, evergreen trees can occur, in which case the bog blends into the surrounding expanses of boreal evergreen forest.<ref>{{cite book |last=Archibold |first=O.W. |date=1995 |title=Ecology of World Vegetation |location=London |publisher=Chapman and Hall |isbn=978-0-412-44290-2}}</ref> [[Sedges]] are one of the more common herbaceous species. [[Carnivorous plant]]s such as sundews (''[[Drosera]]'') and pitcher plants (for example ''[[Sarracenia purpurea]]'') have adapted to the low-nutrient conditions by using [[invertebrate]]s as a nutrient source. [[Orchid]]s have adapted to these conditions through the use of mycorrhizal fungi to extract nutrients.<ref name="Keddy" />{{rp|88}} Some shrubs such as ''[[Myrica gale]]'' (bog myrtle) have [[root nodule]]s in which [[nitrogen fixation]] occurs, thereby providing another supplemental source of nitrogen.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bond |first=G. |title=Plant Physiology (Wadsworth biology series) |editor-first1=F.B. |editor-last1=Salisbury |editor-first2=C.W. |editor-last2=Ross |date=1985 |edition=3rd |page=[https://archive.org/details/plantphysiology0000sali/page/254 254] |location=Belmont, CA |publisher=Brooks/Cole |isbn=0534044824 |url=https://archive.org/details/plantphysiology0000sali/page/254 }} See figure 13.3.</ref>
[[File:Labrador tea I 551350802.jpg|thumb|Many species of evergreen shrub are found in bogs, such as [[Labrador tea]].]]
Bogs are recognized as a significant/specific habitat type by a number of governmental and conservation agencies. They can provide habitat for mammals, such as [[caribou]], [[moose]], and [[beaver]]s, as well as for species of nesting shorebirds, such as [[crane (bird)|Siberian cranes]] and [[greater yellowlegs|yellowlegs]]. Bogs contain species of vulnerable reptilians such as the [[bog turtle]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Tutterow|first1=Annalee M.|last2=Graeter|first2=Gabrielle J.|last3=Pittman|first3=Shannon E. |date=June 2017|title=Bog Turtle Demographics within the Southern Population|url=https://bioone.org/journals/ichthyology-and-herpetology/volume-105/issue-2/CH-16-478/Bog-Turtle-Demographics-within-the-Southern-Population/10.1643/CH-16-478.full|journal=Ichthyology & Herpetology |volume=105|issue=2|pages=293–300|doi=10.1643/CH-16-478|s2cid=90491294|issn=2766-1512}}</ref> Bogs even have distinctive insects; English bogs give a home to a yellow fly called the hairy canary fly (''[[Phaonia jaroschewskii]]''), and bogs in North America are habitat for a butterfly called the bog copper (''[[Lycaena epixanthe]]''). In Ireland, the [[viviparous lizard]], the only known reptile in the country, dwells in bogland.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Farren |first1=Aodan |last2=Prodöhl |first2=Paulo |last3=Laming |first3=Peter |last4=Reid |first4=Neil |date=2010-01-01 |title=Distribution of the common lizard (Zootoca vivipara) and landscape favourability for the species in Northern Ireland |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/amre/31/3/article-p387_9.xml |journal=Amphibia-Reptilia |language=en |volume=31 |issue=3 |pages=387–394 |doi=10.1163/156853810791769428 |issn=1568-5381|doi-access=free }}</ref>

The [[United Kingdom]] in its [[Biodiversity Action Plan]] establishes bog habitats as a priority for conservation. Russia has a large reserve system in the [[West Siberian Plain|West Siberian Lowland]].<ref name="Solomeshch">{{cite book |last=Solomeshch |first=A.I. |date=2005 |chapter=The West Siberian Lowland |pages=11–62 |editor-first1=L.H. |editor-last1=Fraser |editor-first2=P.A. |editor-last2=Keddy |title=The World's Largest Wetlands: Ecology and Conservation |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, UK |isbn=9780521834049}}</ref> The highest protected status occurs in [[Zapovednik]]s ([[International Union for Conservation of Nature|IUCN]] category IV); [[Gydan Nature Reserve|Gydansky]]<ref name="Russian Nature">{{cite web|title=Russian Zapovedniks and National Parks |url=http://www.rusnature.info/zap/081.htm |website=Russian Nature |access-date=8 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180311043618/http://www.rusnature.info/zap/081.htm |archive-date=11 March 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref> and [[Yugansky Nature Reserve|Yugansky]] are two prominent examples. {{Citation needed|date=February 2021}}

Bogs are fragile ecosystems, and have been deteriorating quickly, as archaeologists and scientists have been recently finding. Bone material found in bogs has had accelerated deterioration from first analyses in the 1940s.<ref name="Human encroachment, climate change">{{cite journal |last1=Boethius |first1=Adam |last2=Kjällquist |first2=Mathilda |last3=Magnell |first3=Ola |last4=Apel |first4=Jan |title=Human encroachment, climate change and the loss of our archaeological organic cultural heritage: Accelerated bone deterioration at Ageröd, a revisited Scandinavian Mesolithic key-site in despair |journal=PLOS ONE |date=July 29, 2020 |volume=15 |issue=7 |pages=e0236105 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0236105|pmid=32726345 |pmc=7390309 |bibcode=2020PLoSO..1536105B |doi-access=free }}</ref> This has been found to be from fluctuations in ground water and increase in acidity<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Sperle |first1=Thomas |last2=Bruelheide |first2=Helge |title=Climate change aggravates bog species extinctions in the Black Forest (Germany) |journal=Diversity and Distributions |date=25 October 2020 |volume=27 |issue=2 |pages=282–295 |doi=10.1111/ddi.13184|doi-access=free }}</ref> in lower areas of bogs that is affecting the rich organic material. Many of these areas have been permeated to the lowest levels with oxygen, which dries and cracks layers. There have been some temporary solutions to try and fix these issues, such as adding soil to the tops of threatened areas; they do not work in the long-term.<ref name="Human encroachment, climate change"/> Extreme weather like dry summers are likely the cause, as they lower precipitation and the groundwater table. It is speculated that these issues will only increase with a rise in global temperature and climate change. Since bogs take thousands of years to form and create the rich peat that is used as a resource, once they are gone they are extremely hard to recover. Arctic and sub-Arctic circles where many bogs are warming at 0.6&nbsp;°C per decade, an amount twice as large as the global average. Because bogs and other peatlands are carbon sinks, they are releasing large amounts of greenhouse gases as they warm up.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Schuur |first1=E. A. G. |last2=McGuire |first2=A. |last3=Schadel |first3=C. |title=Climate change and the permafrost carbon feedback |journal=Nature |date=9 April 2015 |volume=520 |issue=7546 |pages=171–179 |doi=10.1038/nature14338|pmid=25855454 |bibcode=2015Natur.520..171S |s2cid=4460926 }}</ref> These changes have resulted in a severe decline of biodiversity and species populations of peatlands throughout Northern Europe.<ref name="Human encroachment, climate change"/>