Environmental and Ecological Issues
Because of the distinctive ecological conditions of peat wetlands, they provide habitat for a distinctive fauna and flora. For example, Whooping Cranes nest in North American peatlands, while Siberian Cranes nest in the West Siberian peatland. Such habitats also have many species of wild orchids and carnivorus plants. It takes centuries for a peat bog to recover from disturbance. For more on biological communities, see wetland, bog or fen.
Recent studies indicate that the world's largest peat bog, located in Western Siberia and the size of France and Germany combined, is thawing for the first time in 11,000 years. As the permafrost melts, it could release billions of tons of methane gas into the atmosphere.
One of the characteristics for peat is that bioaccumulations of metals are often concentrated in the peat, of significant environmental concern is accumulated mercury.
The world's peatlands are thought to contain 180 to 455 billion metric tons of sequestered carbon, and they release into the atmosphere 20 to 45 million metric tons of methane annually. The peatlands' contribution to long-term fluctuations in these atmospheric gases has been a matter of considerable debate.
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