You’d never know that intact moorland is such a climate-protecting hero just by looking at it. The carbon-rich peat below the surface remains hidden from view. What immediately catches the eye, however, is the rich, extraordinary flora and fauna that thrive in these special places. After all, many of the plants and animals that live in moorlands are just as unique as the conditions there. As home to highly specialised biocenoses, moorlands play a key role in maintaining the biodiversity – in other words, the original ecological diversity – of our environment. By protecting and renaturalising moorlands, we save countless endangered animal and plant species from extinction.
Intact moors offer their inhabitants extreme living conditions. Many rare animal and plant species have become expert residents in these low-nutrient, low-oxygen biotopes and have formed unique communities (biocenoses) over the course of thousands of years.
Characteristic plant species in raised bogs include cotton grass, sundew and the common cranberry. Another typical feature of moors is peat moss, which can store many times its own mass of water and can thus protect its surroundings from flooding or drying out.
Whether mosaic darners, moor frogs or common snipes, those who live in the moorlands are often just as endangered as the habitat itself. Countless rare amphibians depend on the biotope and for many bird species, it is one of the few undisturbed resting and breeding grounds remaining.
