Marshes are most common along the edges of ponds and lakes. Bogs Bogs resemble other types of wetlands, but because the flow of water is restricted here, bogs make life for plants and animals difficult. Sphagnum moss is the dominant plant in bogs and often forms a living mat across the water of a bog. The mat not only blocks out light and oxygen, but also withdraws precious nutrients and adds to the acidity of the water, making it difficult for decomposer organisms to function. All of this combines to inhibit not only growth, but also decay.
Sphagnum moss helps create the very conditions that allow it to thrive.
Since bogs are nutrient deserts, only a few plants can survive. Leatherleaf, bog laurel, cranberry, Labrador tea and a few other bog species grow on the floating sphagnum mat. Pitcher plants and sundews have adapted uniquely in order to obtain the necessary nitrogen for their survival they eat meat by capturing insects. The pitcher plant has a special funnel leaf that traps rainwater. Insects, attracted to the water, can climb into the leaf but, because of the hundreds of downward-pointing hairs growing in the funnel, can t climb out.