These microforms mostly have a mosaic of vegetation patches with their own microsuccessions, but the hummocks as a rule appeared to be very stable and old. This example shows the importance of the description of microtopography on a microform level. In forests and grasslands the latter approach has justified expectations. In poor fens, red beds and marshes it is hardly possible to find another vegetation unit more suitable for description and mapping purposes. In flood plains strong sedge tussocks can be treated as the smallest natural elements of this vegetation.
Hummocks grow and their development seems to be regulated by hydrological conditions.
More frequently hummocks join into ridges and form compound microforms of different size and appearance. Taking into account that the surface of virgin bogs is densely coverd with mosses, it is justified to look for the smallest element of vegetation in this layer. All these considerations give reason to speak about clonal level in moss-covered bogs where a Sphagnum clone with its companions and symbionts is the smallest element of plant cover. Such qualities can be found in Sphagnum clones on a population level, on certain kinds of hummocks on a microstructural level and in growing bogs on a mesostructural level. Microtopes are merely parts of the bog complex or mesotope as a whole.