A bog is a type of freshwater wetland with soft, spongy ground made primarily of peat, which is partially decomposed plant material. Bogs typically grow in cold, northern climates. They frequently grow in lake basins with limited drainage that glaciers carved out during the most recent ice age.

A collection of bogs in Russia's Siberia region make up the largest wetland in the world. More than a million square kilometres make up the Western Siberian Lowlands (386,102 square miles).

Bog habitats come in a variety of different varieties. In highland regions with heavy precipitation, blanket bogs grow, covering the entire area, including hills and valleys. Ecosystems called cataract bogs have a continuous freshwater stream. Over a lake or pond, quaking bogs form with bog mats (thick layers of vegetation)

A metre or three feet thick on top. Bogs that quake when people or animals walk on them get their name from this. Raised bogs have a slightly dome-like structure in the centre where rotting plant has accumulated. Low-lying "islands" in the landscape of string bogs break up the saturated bog habitat. Shallow valleys are where valley bogs grow.

Bogs all evolve over hundreds or thousands of years. When a lake gradually fills with plant material, a bog is created. Other plants and sphagnum moss sprout from the lake's edge. The lake's whole surface is eventually covered in vegetation.

Bogs can also develop when sphagnum moss covers dry terrain and blocks the evaporation of precipitation. They are known as ombrotrophic bogs.

Because flooding limits a good flow of oxygen from the atmosphere, plants decompose slowly in bogs. Bog soils are substantially more acidic than other soils and are deficient in nutrients and oxygen.

Watery bogs eventually fill up with both living and dead vegetation. The histosol, or damp soil, of the bog is primarily composed of these slowly decomposing plants.
In histosol, fungi and low-lying bushes like heather flourish. Sphagnum moss can be directly grown on by hedging. Bogs are actually frequently referred to as "heaths" because of the thick heather growth that covers them.

Peatlands
Peat eventually develops from the histosol's thick, spongy layers. The first step in the protracted process of turning plant matter into coal is peat, a fossil fuel. The fossils are mainly sphagnum moss from prehistoric bogs.

Burrow Ecology

Because they effectively absorb a lot of precipitation, bogs are significant ecologically. They control flooding and take care of runoff. Common bog flora include sphagnum moss, reeds, sedges, and heather.

Bogs that only receive precipitation—not water from lakes, glaciers, or groundwater—are ombrotrophic. The lack of nutrients in ombrotrophic bogs makes it difficult for many common plants to survive. In order to survive in ombrotrophic conditions, carnivorous plants must obtain their nutrients from their insect prey rather than from the nearby water. These insect-eating plants, like sundews and pitcher plants, capture insects and consume them for food.

Bogs with greater biodiversity are those that are nourished by lake basins and other water sources. These bogs provide cranberries, blueberries, and huckleberries among other plants.