Description
The wetlands include various environmental types: large-area peat bogs and wet meadows, small circular bogs, ponds and swamped ponds.
The wetlands are distributed in two large parallel depressions, separated from each other by a wooded hill, and furrowed by watercourses that feed the Ribor stream.
In the large wet meadows, characterised by a rather complex water network, numerous streams and rivulets flow down the slopes. There is a predominance of typical low peat bog vegetation, with the associations Caricetum fuscae and Trichoperetum caespitosum, and with localisation of small areas of sphagnum mosses where Eriophorum sp. and Carex limosa are abundant.
The small circular or elliptical peat bogs are still characterised by sedge and trichoperetum vegetation, but with a greater extension of sphagnum areas, with even fairly large mounds colonised by Calluna vulgaris and Vaccinium vitis-idaea.
The ponds and small lakes are characterised by a surrounding marshy area, consisting of sedge and trichophoretum vegetation, and the strip closer to the water that can be defined as 'magnocariceto' and characterised by the association Caricetum rostratae, consisting almost exclusively of Carex rostrata.
In terms of fauna, the biotope is an important breeding area for arthropods, amphibians and reptiles, and a feeding and refuge area for the fauna of the surrounding woods.
The small ponds are the main habitat of numerous insects, including Gerrids, Diptera and Odonata (= dragonflies) with their dazzling colours.
The small ponds also influence the water supply by acting as 'natural reservoirs' of water.
