• 1.Area that is inundated or saturated by surface water or groundwater
• 2. At a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and than under normal circumstances does support,
• 3. A prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions, commonly known as hydrophytic vegetation

• Bogs act as natural sponges:
• good flood control during high water
• act as a slow release during droughts
• The flora is unique: TCB more typical of Boreal bogs in Canada or higher altitude Adirondacks
• Source of peat for gardening, but peat extraction “kills” the bog.
• Pollen deposits can be studied for paleobotany:  low O2 keeps pollen grains from decomposition

• An area of blocked drainage
• vegetation mat that grows over the water’s surface
• Mat made mostly from sphagnum moss
• Later other acid tolerant herbs and shrubs invade the edges of the mat
• Water beneath is brown (from tannins) and acidic (from organic acids)

• Glacier retreats (13,000 + years ago), leaving large ice blocks
• Ice melts, then kettle-hole lake forms
• If lake isolated, and water not buffered by lime rock
• and Sphagnum moss invades
• then the mat can develop leading to a quaking bog
• Sphagnum and associated heath shrubs “invade” open water
• Heaths = highbush blueberry, leatherleaf, cranberry, sheep laurel, bog laurel, swamp azalea

7.  Line drawing of a Sphagnum plant

• Sphagnum acts like a calcium pump, increasing the pH of the surrounding water.
•  The clear areas with holes are dead cells that absorb large amounts of water.
• From: Figure 5.21 from Oplinger & Halma, 1988

• Leatherleaf:
• Chamaedaphne calyculata
• Habitat: bogs & swamps
• Leaves: elliptical, dull green, underside dotted with rusty scales, evergreen
• Flowers: bell shaped, white
• Bog Rosemary:
• Andromeda glaucophylla
• Habitat: cold bogs
• Leaves: evergreen, narrow, dark green above
• Flowers: pink or white, bell-shaped

• As the mat develops, circulation is restricted, low O2 conditions develop in the lake
• Decomposition of dead sphagnum & other plants on the bottom incomplete
• Peat builds up, releases humic acids and water becomes brown and acidic
• As sphagnum & shrubs grow other plants invade
• Black spruce, Picea mariana
• Tamarack or American larch, Larix laricina
• Poison sumac (along the edges), Rhus vernix

• Habitat: swamps
• Shrub 6 - 20 ft. tall
• Small, green flowers in a loose cluster, late spring & early summer
• Leaflets entire
• Fruit whitish or gray
• Very poisonous at all seasons

14.  Profile of a Pocono  peat bog: Figure 5.22 from Oplinger & Halma, 1988.
15.  Photo: Tamarack or American larch
16.  Photo: Black Spruce, Picea mariana
17.  Bog specialists:  insect eating plants

• The acid environment of the bog means that nutrients are low, especially N & P.
• Some plants catch insects and dissolve or let them decay to provide the nutrients.
• Pitcher plant:  traps and drowns insects in the “pitcher”
• Sundews:  sticky secretions on leaf hairs trap small insects.

• Remember, the conditions are harsh in the aquatic realm:  low O2, low pH
• Limited plankton, copepods, rotifers
• Fish:  yellow perch, mud minnows
• Few amphibians and reptiles:  endangered Muhlenberg’s turtle (bog turtle), 4-toed salamander
• Terrestrial Animals
• Muskrats: open waterways
• Mink: preys on muskrats
• Small mammals:
• star-nosed moles
• water shrews
• short-tailed shrews
• Bog lemmings

(1) Oplinger & Halma, 1988, pages 161-167.

(2) Merritt, 1987.  Mammals of Penn.