Bog Mosses

Order i.—Sphagnales, or Bog Mosses, including the simple genus, Sphagnum. Pale mosses of swampy habit whose upper extremities repeat their growth periodically while their lower portions die away gradually and form peat, hence their frequent name of Peat Mosses. 

The southern part of the Laurentian region is covered by Podzols and Spodi-Distric Cambisols with Black Coniferous Forest ecosystems of Picea mariana, P. glauca, and Abies balsamea Larch and birch are mixed with these species. Pine Forest ecosystems of Pinus banksiana, bog mosses and lowland bogs occur in this part of the region also. The biogeochemical cycling of the elements is faster than in the northern part, but anyhow it is the depressed type of turnover (see Table 1). 

Thick Forest ecosystems are found only along the valley s of large rivers, occupying well-drained places of terraces, slopes and low hills, lying at an altitude of 700-750 m. White spruce (Picea canadensis), balsam poplar, aspen, and in some places white birch, are trees common to these Forest ecosystems black spruce, fir and larch are found more rarely. The latter is attracted to swampy areas. On flat, ill-drained surfaces, forest ecosystems are replaced by vast areas of bog mosses and, in relief depressions, sedge-cotton grass bog. 

Moor-kohle,/. moor coal (black subbituminous coal), -lauge, /. extract from bog earth or peat, -mergel, m. bog marl, -salz, n, salt from peaty soil, -wasser, n. peat water. Moos, n. moss, -achat, m. moss agate, moosartig, a. moss-like, mossy. 

Sumpf-erz, n. bog ore. -gas, n. marsh gas. sumpfig, a. Swampy, marshy, boggy. Sumpf-kalk, m. slaked lime, -luft, /. marsh gas. -moos, n. swamp moss, sphagnum (moss), -nelke, /. piirple avens (Geum rivale). -ol, n. sump oil. -pfianze, /. marsh plant, -porsch, -porst, m. marsh tea (Ledum pa-lusirei. -silge,/. marsh parsley (Peucedanum palustre). 

V, —Upper layer of fibrous red bog, composed entirely of Sjpkagnuna, Eypnvm, and other mosses from Dorrymulien Station... 

Coal is a brown to black carbonaceous sedimentary rock composed of macerals (organic material) and minerals (inorganic material). Coal originated from the remnants of various forms of plant life (mosses, ferns, shrubs, trees, etc.) that flourished in swamps and bogs millions of years ago during prolonged periods of warm temperatures and abundant... 

Studies of 0/ 0 isotope variations in several vascular plant species, mosses and environmental surface bog water from temperate peat bogs (Switzerland) used as climatic archives for paleoclimatic reconstruction were reported by Menot-Combes et 8 0-values in organic material were determined by the online continuous flow method after sample pyrolysis at 1080 °C in the presence of glassy carbon in a Carlo-Erba elemental analyzer. The gases obtained (CO, N2 and H2O) were separated by passing them through a water trap and a GC column in a helium carrier gas. The isotope composition of CO was measured with a VG Prism II isotope ratio mass spectrometer relative to the VSMOW isotope standard. The overall analytical uncertainty is 0.08%o for water 8 0-values." ... 

Actinides found as environmental contamination in mosses collected from a bog in the eastern Italian Alps were analyzed after their chemical separation by extraction chromatography (deposited on steel targets) with respect to isotope ratios and their concentration was determined by LA-ICP-MS. Moss samples were contaminated with a variety of actinide isotopes. The detection limits for actinides were determined as 3.6-7.2 x 10 gg for " Am and respectively. The Pu/ Pu isotope ratio (0.212 0.003) was almost constant within experimental error for all samples investigated. Pu contamination in moss samples was mainly the result of global fallout after nuclear weapons tests. " Am was found at the 2x 10 " gg level. This example demonstrates that mosses can be used as bioindicators for environmental contamination. ... 

The relatively recent work combining isotopic and structural information (pyrolysis gas chromatography with mass spectrometry) has revealed several biopolymers that appear to be selectively preserved in soils (Kracht and Gleixner, 2000). Working in a Spagnum moss bog, Kracht and Gleixner (2000) found that the relative amount of several plant biopolymers increased with increasing depth in the bog, while the of the... 

In more salty waters no aquatic mosses can be found, but some fresh water fungi (Ephydatia fluviatilis) live here. Whereas no molluscs live in the peat bogs, in the low-level bogs with a salt content up to 6% often Lymnaea stagnalis, a well-known inhabitant of fresh water can be present. 

Native vegetation. Swamp forests of spruce, tamarack, and arborvitae occur in the north, and various conifers, maple, elm, and ash farther south reed and sedge are found in marshes and sphagnum moss and heath are present in bogs. 

Formed under anaerobic and poorly drained conditions (e.g., hydromorphic soils) where the accumulation of undecomposed litter (e.g., moss, sphagnum) is important like in marsh, swamp, and peat bogs. 

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