Description
The origin of the peat bog is linked to glacial phenomena: it is the product of the filling, mainly by vegetation, of a shallow post-glacial lake basin.
The continuous carpet of sphagnum only rises here and there in gibbons or even in heaps; elsewhere it is interrupted by pools and channels, all of modest size. Moreover, the entire peat bog is crossed by what can be defined as the 'main course' of the Rio Brentèla.
On superficial examination, the peat bog appears as a flat "meadow", and this is due to the fact that many species of sedges (typical grasses of peat bogs and other wetlands) grow among the sphagnum bogs, which overhang the sphagnum bogs below with their leaves.
It can be said that the vegetation is very diverse, being characterised by the presence of many different evolutionary stages typical of peat bogs, from marginal hygrophilous woods, to sedges and central pools, from semi-submerged vegetation to large mounds of sphagnum moss where the first mountain pines (Pinus mugo) begin to grow.
A 'belt' of hygrophilous broadleaves can be observed at the edges of the bog, among which the white alder (Alnus incana) dominates. Real groves of white alder can be found along the course of the Rio Brentèla, and especially at the western end of the peat bog, where the Rio enters it. At this point, the Brentèla flows in a situation very close to the natural one, and is very suggestive.
The actual peat bog flora includes several decidedly rare species; among the many sedges (Carex, various species) grow the bushy trichophorum (Tricophorum caespitosum), the alpine trichophorum (Tricophorum alpinum) and the rare marshy Triglochin. On sphagnum mosses one finds the slender and rare sundew (Drosera sp.) and butterwort (Pinguicula vulgaris), both insectivorous plants. The splendid Parnassia (Parnassia palustris) and Potentilla palustris, the one delicately white, the other red, also flower almost everywhere.
This biotope is also very important for the local survival of many animals, first and foremost aquatic insects, such as the splendid dragonflies, and amphibians: hundreds of mountain frogs (Rana temporaria) congregate here in spring, laying their voluminous clusters of eggs in the water holes.
Studies
- naturalistic and cadastral definition project
- vegetation study