Fire in North American Wetland Ecosystems and Fire-Wildlife Relations: An Annotated Bibliography

79. Foster, D.R. 1984. The dynamics of sphagnum in forest and peatland communities 
         in southeastern Labrador, Canada. Arctic 37:133-140.

Long fire rotation, high levels of precipitation, and acidic nature of bedrock are factors contributing to the dominance of peat moss. In uplands, the successional sequence following fire often culminates in a carpet of peat moss (Sphagnum girgensohnii) overgrowing feather mosses (red-stemmed feathermoss, plume moss, and mountain fern moss). Fire burns selectively along ridges and hummock tops, among lichens, ericaceous shrubs, and conifers and their litter, leaving moister hollows unburned. On bog hummocks following fire or changes in moisture regime, peat moss (Sphagnum fuscum) overtops Cladonia lichens to provide a pronounced reference horizon. Fire is a locally important factor, but climate is also responsible for the observed stratigraphic sequences. [From author's abstract]

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