泥炭沼地

Desert_of_Wales中廣闊的高沼地
泥炭沼地即矮叢沼，是在溫帶草原，熱帶稀樹草原，灌木地，山地草原和灌木叢生物群落的山地地區發現的一種棲息地，其特徵是在酸性土壤上生長的植物。如今，高沼地通常是指未經耕種的丘陵土地（例如英格蘭達特穆爾），但也有低窪的溼地（例如和前者都在英格蘭西南部的薩默塞特郡的Sedgemoor）。它與石楠荒原息息相關，儘管專家們在精確區分這兩種植被方面存在分歧。通常，海拔和降雨量較高的地方叫高沼地，而石楠沼澤是更可能由人類活動(人為石楠荒原)產生的較低地帶的那種。高沼地主要在熱帶非洲，北歐和西歐以及新熱帶界。世界上大多數的高沼地都是非常多樣化的生態系統。在熱帶大草原上廣泛分佈的高沼地，生物多樣性可能非常高。沼地還與苔原（地下土壤是多年凍土或永久凍結的土壤）有關係，體現為苔原和天然樹木地帶。苔原和之間的邊界隨著氣候變化而不斷變化。

**石楠高沼**
北約克郡沼澤地帶的石楠沼澤，主要由帚石楠組成
石楠荒地和荒地是不列顛群島最廣泛的半自然植被地貌。不列顛東部的荒原與石楠荒原相似，但有泥炭覆蓋。在西部沼澤上，泥炭層可能厚幾米。
蘇格蘭語的“muirs”通常是指石楠沼澤，但也泛泛的包含草，羊鬍子草，苔蘚，蕨類和灌木叢（如巖高蘭），而長著泥炭蘚的更溼的沼澤地上的草蘚算入酸沼這類當中。
關於人類活動造成多少尚不確定。奧利弗·拉克漢姆寫道，花粉分析表明，某些荒原（例如在蘇格蘭的島嶼或蘇格蘭最北部）顯然是自然的，從未有過樹木而奔寧山脈的許多荒原地區則在中石器時代造林。多少森林消失是由氣候變化引起的，多少是由人類活動造成的，尚不確定。

**生態學特徵**
在全世界的高沼中，棲息地多種多樣。 因土壤和微氣候的特色很強，故其中的特有種很常見。比如英格蘭的埃克斯摩爾就出產一種在其嚴酷環境下出現的埃克斯摩爾馬。
在歐洲，與高沼相關的動物相里包含Red grouse、白尾鷂、灰背隼、歐金鴴、白腰杓鷸、雲雀、草地鷚、草原石䳭、環頸鶇、黃嘴朱頂雀等鳥類。而別的生物支配了歐洲以外的高沼。因歐洲較冷，故此處高沼難見爬行動物，儘管別處高沼都有許多爬行動物，但歐洲的高沼僅有極北蝰。
青蛙等兩棲生物是高沼的象徵物。當高沼的地力被畜牧過度透支時，木本植物多會消亡，只剩粗礪、惹人生厭的禾本科植物和蕨類，生物相會大大退化。
乞力馬扎羅山的高沼
羊會在一部分山丘上繁殖，如蘇格蘭黑麵羊和Lonk (sheep)，只要海拔合適，它們就能在石楠沼澤上大量繁殖。

**管理**
Burning of moorland has been practised for a number of reasons. For example, when grazing is insufficient to control growth. This is recorded in Britain in the fourteenth century. Uncontrolled burning frequently caused (and causes) problems, and was forbidden by statute in 1607.date=November 2015 With the rise of sheep and grouse management in the nineteenth century it again became common practice. Heather is burnt at about 10 or 12 years old when it will regenerate easily. Left longer, the woodier stems will burn more aggressively and will hinder regrowth. Burning of moorland vegetation needs to be very carefully controlled as the peat itself can catch fire, and this can be difficult if not impossible to extinguish. In addition, uncontrolled burning of heather can promote alternative bracken and rough grass growth which ultimately produces poorer grazing. As a result, burning is now a controversial practice; Rackham calls it "second-best land management".
Mechanical cutting of the heather has been used in Europe, but it is important for the material to be removed to avoid smothering regrowth. If heather and other vegetation are left for too long, a large volume of dry and combustible material builds up. This may result in a wildfire burning out a large area, although it has been found that heather seeds germinate better if subject to the brief heat of controlled burning.date=March 2013
In terms of managing moorlands for wildlife, in the UK, vegetation characteristics are important for passerine abundance, whilst predator control benefits red grouse, golden plover, and curlew abundances. To benefit multiple species, many management options are required. However, management needs to be carried out in locations that are also suitable for species in terms of physical characteristics such as topography, climate and soil.

**文學作品中的高沼**
The development of a sensitivity to nature and one's physical surroundings grew with the rise of interest in landscape painting, and particularly the works of artists that favoured wide and deep prospects, and rugged scenery. To the English Romantic imagination, moorlands fitted this image perfectly, enhancing the emotional impact of the story by placing it within a heightened and evocative landscape. Moorland forms the setting of various works of late Romantic English literature, ranging from the Yorkshire moorland in Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights and The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett to Dartmoor in Arthur Conan Doyle's Holmesian mystery The Hound of the Baskervilles.
Enid Blyton's Famous Five series featured the young protagonists adventuring across various moorlands where they confronted criminals or other individuals of interest. Such a setting enhanced the plot as the drama unfolded away from the functioning world where the children could solve their own problems and face greater danger.  Moorland in the Forest of Bowland in Lancashire is the setting for Walter Bennett's The Pendle Witches, the true story of some of England's most infamous witch trials.  In Erin Hunter's Warriors series, one of the four Clans, WindClan, lives in the moorland alone.
Michael Jecks, author of Knights Templar Mysteries, sets his books in and around Dartmoor, England. Paul Kingsnorth’s Beast is also set on a western English moor, using the barren landscape and fields of heather to communicate themes of timelessness and distance from civilization.

**有名的高沼**

**非洲**

**剛果民主共和國**
 Ruwenzori-Virunga montane moorlands

**埃塞俄比亞**
 Ethiopian montane moorlands

**肯尼亞**
 East African montane moorlands- Mount Kenya

**盧旺達**
 Ruwenzori-Virunga montane moorlands

**蘇丹**
 East African montane moorlands- Ethiopian montane moorlands

**坦桑尼亞**
 East African montane moorlands- Kilimanjaro- Mount Meru

**烏干達**
 East African montane moorlands

**歐洲**

**奧地利**
 Tanner Moor- Längsee Moor- Moorbad Gmös

**比利時**
 Weißer Stein (Eifel)

**德國**
 Großes Torfmoor- High Fens- Hücker Moor- Oppenwehe Moor- Worringer Bruch

**聯合王國**
The United Kingdom is home to an estimated 10–15% of the world's moors. Notable areas of upland moorland in Britain include the Lake District, the Pennines (including the Dark Peak and Forest of Bowland), Mid Wales, the Southern Uplands of Scotland, the Scottish Highlands, and a few very small pockets in western Herefordshire.
Oswaldtwistle Moor, part of the West Pennine Moors, in Lancashire, UK- Bleaklow, Dark Peak- Bodmin Moor, Cornwall- Black Mountains, Wales- Brecon Beacons, Wales- Dartmoor, Devon- Exmoor, West Somerset & North Devon- Forest of Bowland, Lancashire- Hexhamshire Moors, Northumberland and County Durham- North York Moors, North Yorkshire- Migneint, Gwynedd- Mynydd Hiraethog, Denbighshire and Conwy- Penwith, Cornwall- Rannoch Moor, Highlands, Scotland- Rombalds Moor (including Ilkley Moor), West Yorkshire- Rossendale Valley, Lancashire- Saddleworth Moor, Greater Manchester- Shropshire Hills, small pockets of moorland such as the Long Mynd- West Pennine Moors, including Oswaldtwistle Moor, Haslingden Moor, Rivington Moor and Darwen Moor in Lancashire- Ythan Estuary complex, Aberdeenshire, Scotland: largest coastal moorland in the United Kingdom, known for high biodiversity- Drumossie Moor, often called Culloden Moor, the site of the Battle of Culloden

**南美**

**阿根廷**
 Magellanic moorland

**智利**
 Magellanic moorland

**哥倫比亞**
Colombia is one of only three countries in the world to be home to páramo (tropical moorland) and more than 60% of the paramo regions are found on its soil.- Sumapaz Páramo, Bogota- Chingaza National Natural Park, Cundinamarca department- Oceta Páramo, Boyacá Department- Iguaque, Boyacá Department- Puracé, Cauca Department- es, Santander Department

**參見**
 Fen- Páramo

**參考文獻 ==