### soil | wetland:

Bog
* Some bogs are totally overgrown and some consist of open water surrounded by floating vegetation.
  * occur where the water at the ground surface is acidic and low in nutrients. Water flowing out of bogs has a characteristic brown colour, which comes from dissolved peat tannins.
* also are the haunt of carnivorous plants, like pitcher plants, sundews and horned bladderwort
  - support an interesting mix of animals, including the rare bog turtle
* are a finite resource
  - fire subclimax community that succeed to other vegetation types when fire is eliminated
  - specific sort of wetland with very low nutrient levels
  - type of wetlands where peat accumulates
  - acidic wetlands typically found in Canada and the northern United States
  - almost invariably evil places in art and literature
  - areas where the water table is even with the ground
  - colossal sponges, moderating the effects of flood and drought
  - common complete with cedars, orchids and insectivorous plants
* are common in Canada, Russia, and Scandinavia
  - areas of heavy rainfall
  - the boreal region
  - damp, cool areas that accumulate dead plant material faster than it can decay
  - generally level but are often patterned by scattered mounds of sphagnum moss
  - home to an astonishing array of plant and animal life
* are more acidic than swamps, and are low in oxygen, so decomposition takes place slowly
  - common in cold or even Arctic areas in North America, Europe, and Asia
  - nutrient poor and generally form in basins with no inlet or outlet for surface water
  - ombrotrophic which means that their water supply is from the mineral-poor rainwater
  - one of North America's most distinctive kinds of wetlands
  - peatlands covered with mosses, low shrubs, and even trees
  - rare and unusual places
  - specialized, acidic peatlands derived mostly from species of sphagnum moss
  - squishy, wet, lush and oozing water
  - strongly acidic and extremely nutrient poor
  - the most common form of wetland in the province
  - therefore very sensitive to human recreational pressure
  - typically acid and deficient in nutrients and are often dominated by sphagnum moss
  - usually wetter than marshes, and have thicker beds of peat and mats of floating vegetation
  - waterlogged peatlands in old lake basins or depressions in the landscape
* are wetlands that develop in relatively cool but wet climates
  - with accumulating peat formed because decomposition is slow
* can cover large areas of land, and often include black spruce and tamarack stands.
* containing pockets of sphagnum moss often support large populations of A e. abserratus.
* growing plants include heathers, sphagnum moss, bog cotton and orchids.
* have different layers of peat
  - highly acidic soils
  - lots of dead plant material in their soil
  - no inflow or outflow areas and support acidophilic mosses
  - soils that are too wet, too cold, and too acidic for bacteria which aid in decomposition
  - very little decomposition of organic matter creating a very acidic soil
* help to maintain reliable supplies of clean water to rivers.
* is wetland
* lack drainage, and precipitation is the only source of water.
* occur on the floors and sides of the valleys and also in the high lying cirque valleys
* often contain sphagnum moss and leather-leaf shrubs
  - form in the holes created by melting blocks of ice left by receding glaciers
* preserve more than the remains of plants, however.
* prevent downstream flooding by absorbing direct precipitation and runoff.
* protect water quality by interrupting and filtering runoff.
* sit near arid sandhills.
* start as floating mats of vegetation over the open water of a basin.
* support open low scrub or scrub-graminoid communities.