Course: The Botany and Ecology of Bogs and Mires

This 1-day intermediate course will introduce a plethora of habitats, all falling under the umbrella of ‘mire’.

Bogs and marshes are among the richest of habitats and both are examples of mires, home to specific plants adapted to grow in the often very harsh environmental conditions. You will spend time exploring the ecology of these unique habitats and the rich botanical assemblages that can be found there!

This course will cover:

• The definition of a mire
• The different types of mire, for example soakaways and flushes
• How mires can be acidic or basic in nature
• The difference between a wet heath and a mire
• Appreciation of the biodiverse richness of mires
• The use of Ellenberg values in determining whether a species will flourish in a given mire
• How plants have evolved to adapt to these often, extreme environments
• The plant families you would expect to find in mire habitats
• How mires demonstrate ecological processes and ecosystem services: improving water quality, capturing carbon and alleviating flooding.
• The environmental threats to mires and possible solutions to reduce these

Mires are wetlands supporting vegetation that is normally peat-forming and in all examples, the ground is permanently or periodically waterlogged by high atmospheric humidity, a high water table, or by lateral water flow. Often, different mire types are found together, forming intimate mosaics at a single site.

Specific plants have adapted to grow in the often very harsh environmental conditions of mires, evolving ingenious ways of obtaining nutrients. Often different mire types are found together, forming intimate mosaics at a single site.

This course is eligible for a student discount. If you are a current student, please use the discount code BioStudent20 at checkout for 20% off.

Please refer to the Field Studies Council website for further information and to book.