Southern New England Habitats IV Bog Definition Bogs

Southern New England Habitats IV: Bog • Definition: Bogs are habitats that initially develop over the surface of a pond and, as they mature, ultimately replace the pond. • Physical environment: Bogs typically (but not always) develop in highly acidic, low nutrient, low oxygen wetlands. In these environments, plants grow on the partly decayed remains of other plants that accumulate into a peat layer. Hence, bog organisms may be said to create the environment they inhabit. • Diversity: Plants inhabiting bogs are capable of tolerating the difficult environmental conditions present. Many species present are found only in bogs.

Bog Types • In southern New England, bogs include those with northern and those with southern geographical affinities. • Northern bogs (upper right) are characterized by species of the boreal zone, and are found principally in the Berkshire plateau of western Massachusetts and Connecticut. • Southern bogs (lower right) are characterized by species of the southeastern coastal plain, and are found principally in eastern Massachusetts, eastern Connecticut and Rhode Island.

Development: Young Bogs • Bogs begin their development at the edge of a pond. Old bogs often developed in glacial kettlehole ponds that formed after a buried block of glacial ice melted. • Plants that can extend their roots and stems over the surface of water, such as grasses and sedges, are often among the first to colonize. • As a bog mat develops over the surface of the water, dead plant remains accumulate on it and rain down to the pond floor. • In the acidic, low oxygen environment of the pond, this detritus accumulates into a partly decomposed peat layer.

Mature Bogs • As the peat layer accumulates and the floating (quaking) bog mat thickens, woody shrubs, particularly acid-loving members of the blueberry family, become more common on the bog surface (above). • As the mat thickens further over time, tree species colonize (left). • Individual bogs may, however, develop very differently in response to local conditions. Even very old bogs may have herbaceous and shrubby mats.

Plant Diversity • Northern and southern bogs share many species like the shrub leatherleaf in common. • Characteristic trees of southern bogs are the evergreen Atlantic white cedar and rhododendron (above). • Characteristic trees of northern bogs are the black spruce (left) and tamarack - a deciduous conifer.

Profile of a New England Bog

Adaptations • Plant species like the Calopogon orchid (left) derive nutrients from this low nutrient environment by parasitizing other plants. • Carnivorous plants like the pitcher plant (above) derive nutrients by capturing and digesting insects. • Many species are evergreen, which helps reduce the loss of nutrients stored in leaves.