Peat-bogs

A peat-bog is a wetland best characterized by the slow accumulation of peat, that constitutes a soil with high organic contents of plant origin, that is little or not decomposed at all.
 
The majority of peat-bogs are located in high and medium-altitude mountains, close to the springs of rivers and streams. As many other wetlands, they play an important role in the water cycle:

• water retention : peat-bogs play a regulating role for water flows, retaining water during a variable period before giving it back to the ecosystem ;
• filtering water : the various peat-bog plants  purify water that flows through them, since for growing they use the organic and mineral elements that are in excess.

Peat-bogs host a (mainly invertebrate) fauna and flora that are very distinctive, including a wealth of insect-eating plants.