Do fens have fish?
Fens usually have tamarack trees, poison sumac, and a profusion of wildflowers. Fens also provide valuable habitat for deer, turkey and other birds, as well as snakes, turtles and fish. The number of species of plants and animals in fens is higher than other wetlands and far higher than other ecosystems.
Do animals live in fens?
Mink ( Mustela vison ) and River Otter ( Lontra Canadensis ) can be found in fish bearing wetlands such as marshes or fens associated with streams. Waterbirds such as ducks, loons, grebes, geese, swans, cranes, herons, shorebirds, rails and terns depend on the wetland habitat types found associated with muskeg.
Are fens freshwater or saltwater?
Fens receive significant water and nutrients from a ground source of water. In California, the summer dry climate makes it impossible for bogs to form. However, ground water fed fens are widespread in the mountains of the Sierra Nevada, coast range and southern Cascades.
What animals live in fens in Canada?
Wildlife Inhabitants in a Fen There is an abundant insect population consisting mainly of deerflies, horseflies and mosquitoes. Butterflies and moths associated with grasses and sedges are also present. A variety of amphibians that breed in local ponds can usually be found in fens, including turtles and frogs.
Are fens rare?
Prairie fens are alkaline pH wetlands that occur where groundwater-fed springs come to the soil surface. They are very rare globally, but are most common in glaciated areas of the Midwestern United States.
Is a fen a bird?
Fens are often found near bogs and over time most fens become bogs. Insects like mosquitoes and horseflies are common in fens as are amphibians, insect-eating birds, and insect-eating mammals like shrews, voles, and muskrats.
Are fens protected?
Most of the Fenland lies within a few metres of sea level. As with similar areas in the Netherlands, much of the Fenland originally consisted of fresh- or salt-water wetlands. These have been artificially drained and continue to be protected from floods by drainage banks and pumps.
How do you identify a fen?
In The Biology of Peatlands fens are defined by the following criteria:
- The wetland is not flooded by lake or stream water.
- Woody vegetation 2 meters or taller is absent or canopy cover is less than 25%.
- The wetland is minerotrophic (it receives its nutrients from mineral-rich groundwater).
