Recyclers and Decomposers in Burns Bog.
Vocabulary : ecosystem, nutrients, Sphagnum Moss, hollow, acidic, organisms, decompose, peat,
preserve, bog mummies, pioneer species, lichen, photosynthesis, mycelium, micro-habitat.
Flora, International Nature Detective and Bog Explorer, wants to
find out about recyclers and decomposers in Burns Bog. Just like any good
detective, she’s asking questions, and she knows the very people to ask questions
about bogs. Flora came into Bog HQ.
Flora : I’ve heard that Burns Bog is an ecosystem that is low in nutrients. I know
that recyclers and decomposers add nutrients to a system. Does that mean there
are no recyclers and decomposers in a bog?
Bog HQ : It’s true that to stay as a bog, it needs to stay low in nutrients, so you would not expect to find
many recyclers and decomposers in a bog. But there are some, and over time, they change the bog.
They help to turn it into forest. The smallest things, some that we can’t even see, change the world!
Flora : I see. Why does it take a long time? Decomposers are really good at their job! Surely it would be
tough for the bog stay nutrient free?
Bog HQ : That’s a very good question Flora, the answer is, ‘because of the Boss Moss’.
Flora : The Boss Moss?
Bog HQ : Did you notice how springy the bog is? That’s because of the Boss Moss. Its
real name is Sphagnum Moss. Sphagnum Moss has hollow stems and can soak up to
30 times its own weight in water! But…it does something else too. It makes the water
more acidic. There are some things that we eat which are acidic – lemons and vinegar
for example. But, the very small organisms that help to decompose dead plants and
animals, cannot live in acidic conditions.
Flora : Hmmmm….. interesting. What happens when the Sphagnum Moss itself dies?
Bog HQ : Well, it can’t completely decompose. As more and more of it builds up, it gets squeezed
together and turns into peat. Peat and moss hold a lot of water, but the plants that live in the bog can’t
easily get that water, AND the water is acidic.
Flora : So THAT’S why you call Sphagnum Moss the Boss Moss, I see. The changes it makes to the bog
affect which plants can live there!
Bog HQ : Exactly!
Flora : What would happen to a human body if someone had buried one there, say 2,400 years ago?
Bog HQ : Hahahaha, I can see you are thinking about bog mummies and one in particular! You’re right
Flora, it would look like this. It would become a bog mummy. The acid in the
bog will stop the skin and some of the flesh from decomposing. The body
doesn’t just become a skeleton like if it were buried in ordinary soil. Also, bogs
are very cold, which is another thing that helps preserve the body. This bog
mummy wasn’t found in Burns Bog, but in a bog in Denmark in Northern
Europe. This bog mummy is called Tollund Man. You can look it up online.
Flora : Interesting. But you said there were some decomposers and recyclers in the bog that help to
change the bog to forest. What did you mean?
Bog HQ : Trees like Shore Pine (one type of Shore Pine we find in the bog is called Lodgepole Pine), grow
on the edge of bogs. This allows ‘pioneer species’ to grow.
Flora : What does pioneer species mean?
Bog HQ : It’s a plant that starts off a change – in this case, the change from bog
to forest. Like the pioneers who came to the west of Canada. They started a
change that led to a very different way of life.
Flora : Wait, let me just write this in my International Nature Detective and Bog
Explorer notebook… ok, go ahead…..
Bog HQ : The first one we find is lichen.
Flora : Woohoo! I’m likin’ that lichen!
Bog HQ : Yes, very funny, we’ve never heard that one before. Anyhoo, lichen is a single organism made
up of two. It’s a great partnership! One part of the plant is a fungus, so it makes food for the whole by
recycling plant matter. The other part makes food by photosynthesis. Green plants use energy from the
sun, plus carbon dioxide from the air, plus water through its roots, to make sugars.
Flora : Lichens sound cool! But isn’t a fungus the same as a mushroom? How does it recycle plant
matter?
Bog HQ : Two very good questions. A mushroom is one type of fungus, although all fungi are recyclers.
A mushroom is also the part of the fungus we can see, even the biggest mushrooms are very small
compared with the massive part of the plant that we can’t see, often underground. These systems are
called ‘mycelia’. For one mushroom it would be ‘mycelium’. The mycelium is the recycling part of the
plant. It takes in nutrients from organic matter. It can even recycle a lot of pollutants. Sometimes we say
that mycelia filter pollutants from air and soil.
Flora : Woah! Wait up! As an International Nature Detective and Bog Explorer, I’m all about long,
scientific words, but I need to write them in my notebook so I don’t forget…
Mycelium (Plural : Mycelia) : The part of the fungus we
can’t see, many times bigger than the mushroom that we
can see.
Organic : To do with things that are alive or were once
alive.
Bog HQ : There are plenty of fungi in the forest part of the bog – wherever there are trees that have
completed the active part of their lifecycle, we find fungus. Fungus turns dead trees into soil.
Flora : Hmmm…soil = nutrients right? Now I understand how recyclers help turn the bog into forest.
What about animals?
Bog HQ : The smallest animals, the ‘minibeasts’ are
recyclers. Slugs, earthworms, millipedes, wood bugs and
beetles can all be found in the bog-forest. Some eat plants,
some eat poop! The best way to find mini-beasts is to look
for their micro-habitat.
Flora : Wait! Stop please! Micro-habitat?
Bog HQ : A habitat within a habitat. A great place is under a
log or a stone, and especially in leaf-litter. You can find some mini-beasts by doing a bug shake.
Flora : A bug shake?
Bog HQ : Yes, you put a clean cloth underneath a bush, then shake the leaves. All sorts of small
creatures fall out into the cloth and you can look at them using a magnifying glass or bug box. Be careful,
bugs are living things and can be delicate.
Flora: Are all mini-beasts recyclers?
Bog HQ : Yes and no. Some, like the Ladybird Beetle, or Ladybug, eat aphids from
roses and other plants. Bigger bugs eat smaller bugs. But is that recycling? Aphids eat
the sap from plants then Ladybugs eat the aphids. They don’t wait until they’re dead
though. Ladybugs are predators.
Flora : But the aphids would die eventually!
Bog HQ : Yes, I suppose so. But I don’t think you can call it recycling.
Flora : Which animal in the bog is the biggest recycler?
Bog HQ : The biggest recyclers? I don’t have to think too hard about that
one, it’s us! The more we recycle the less we have to destroy. If we
recycle plastics, we don’t have to dig up so much oil from the ground. If
we recycle paper, we don’t have to chop down as many trees. If we
compost our kitchen and garden waste, we don’t have to put so much
garbage into the landfill.
Unlike the minibeast and plant recyclers though, we use more than we need. We could reduce as well as
recycle and that would also mean less going to landfill.
Flora : And the less in the landfill, the better for the bog!
Bog HQ : Yes, Flora, that’s correct, in fact the less there is going to the landfill, the better for the
environment all round.