{"id":36739,"date":"2025-08-20T17:12:51","date_gmt":"2025-08-20T15:12:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/travesiapirenaica.com\/?p=36739"},"modified":"2025-08-20T17:12:55","modified_gmt":"2025-08-20T15:12:55","slug":"peatlands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/travesiapirenaica.com\/en\/turberas\/","title":{"rendered":"Peat bogs in the Pyrenees, those mysterious ecosystems..."},"content":{"rendered":"

When we think of mountain ecosystems, we probably think of large forests of fir, beech or black pine trees. If we climb a peak in the Pyrenees, we can contemplate the views, perhaps pass through rocky crags and possibly have lunch near a lake or a stream. Well, here, in these waterlogged areas that accumulate water or next to the Pyrenean lakes, we can find our main ecosystem, the peat bog<\/strong> o tremedal<\/strong>The area is a habitat of great environmental importance and unique biodiversity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what do we mean by peat bog?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A peat bog is an aquatic ecosystem, which, like a good dish, has been cooked over a very low heat. The cooking vessel is a depression in the ground, where rain or water from streams has created the base for the main ingredient of the dish. What we are referring to is a type of moss, called sphagnos<\/strong>. Normally, the mosses that cover rocks or trees have rootlets to attach themselves to the substrate, but these do not. Although they are not fixed to the ground, they have a stratospheric water absorption capacity. Both stems and leaves have \"water storage\" cells distributed among the photosynthetic cells that act as sponges absorbing water and mineral salts. The mosses at the top grow, while those at the bottom decay. This is where other ingredients of our stew come in, the fungi and soil bacteria. They decompose the dead organic matter, but under conditions of lack of oxygen (anoxia), \"special\" compounds are generated into the environment. Just as a cook can \"over-salt\" a dish, these chemicals cause an \"acidification\" of the soil. That is, they change a chemical property of water, the pH. Sphagnum is the main ingredient, but we also have other additions to our stew. In peat bogs with a more fluvial water supply, not so much because of rainfall or humidity, we find some plants. Examples include cotton grass with its white hairy spikelets, rushes and their cutting leaves, peat bog heather, water clover and ferns. But if there is one thing that strikes us, it is two ecological strategies \"invented\" by plants to survive in an acidic, anoxic, water-saturated and nutrient-poor environment. The first, represented by the sundew or flytrap, <\/strong>and the greasepaint or strip of violet flowers<\/strong>, <\/strong>carnivorous plants that \"supplement their diet\" with insects that they hunt, and secondly the orchids <\/strong>with fungi in their roots that would \"capture\" nutrients. And now, in order to have a \"dish with substance\", we need to add the last condiments to our recipe, the fauna<\/strong>. There are insects that live in this habitat, such as the marsh pearly butterfly, amphibians such as the red-legged frog, the webbed newt or the Pyrenean newt and the peat bog lizard, which is linked to this ecosystem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This slow-burning process requires rainy weather and low temperatures in order to produce an adequate bacterial and fungal fermentation. However, we also need a long chronological time for the ecosystem to mature and for the formation of the peat...<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n