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Unpatterned Fen Ecosystem
State Rank: S5Fens are peatlands in which groundwater or water from adjacent uplands moves through the area. As a result, plants are exposed to more nutrients, and the vegetation is typically different and more diverse than that of bogs. Peat is moderately- to well-decomposed and of variable thickness. The vegetation consists predominantly of sedges, grasses, reeds, and Sphagnum mosses. Bog communities, dominated by heath shrubs, may be present; but though fen and bog vegetation may co-occur, in a fen ecosystem the former is more extensive. This type is broadly defined geographically: in very few locations in southern Maine one may find an Atlantic White Cedar Bog community as a constituent, but far more common statewide would be the Northern White Cedar Woodland Fen community.
Natural Communities Associated with Unpatterned Fen Ecosystem
- Atlantic White Cedar Bog
- Bog Moss Lawn
- Huckleberry - Crowberry Bog
- Leatherleaf Boggy Fen
- Low Sedge - Buckbean Fen Lawn
- Mixed Tall Sedge Fen
- Mountain Holly - Alder Woodland Fen
- Northern White Cedar Woodland Fen
- Red Maple Wooded Fen
- Sedge - Leatherleaf Fen Lawn
- Sheep Laurel Dwarf Shrub Bog
- Shrubby Cinquefoil - Sedge Circumneutral Fen
- Spruce - Larch Wooded Bog
- Sweetgale Mixed Shrub Fen