In science fiction, there's something called "terraforming" where people take an inhospitable, alien habitat and make it more earth-like so that people can live there. Well it turns out that sphagnum moss has mastered something similar -- I'm going to call it "boggaforming" -- where it takes a wetland and makes it more and more bog-like. One its secret weapons in this process is dead sphagnum moss. Here are some of the ways that previous generations of sphagnum moss contribute to the success of the Read more ➜ It’s a bit like terraforming
In science fiction, there's something called "terraforming" where people take an inhospitable, alien habitat and make it more earth-like so that people can live there. Well it turns out that sphagnum moss has mastered something similar -- I'm going to call it "boggaforming" -- where it takes a wetland and makes it more and more bog-like. One its secret weapons in this process is dead sphagnum moss. Here are some of the ways that previous generations of sphagnum moss contribute to the success of the Read more ➜ 
I decided to write this after visiting Jackson Bog State Nature Preserve and reading all the informative signs there... except they weren't all that informative for me because I didn't know my swamps from my bogs. So when I came home I decided to learn a few wetland basics.
Let's start with the easy stuff. In North America a wetland that has trees growing in it is called a swamp. That's why Dawes Arboretum referred to the following grove of trees as "Cypress Swamp".
A marsh