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Shrub Swamps

Description

As ponds fill in, they gradually become bogs, then swamps, then woods. Shrub swamps are an early stage in this progression. There the open, shallow swamp is filled with tall shrubs growing in on muck and peat.

Ponds and marshes have similar shrub thickets along their edges.

Shrubs in Sutherland Swamp

Shrubs in Sutherland Swamp

Selected Plants

Shrubs

Herbs

Occurrence

Thickets along Sutherland Pond

Thickets along Sutherland Pond

The best example of shrub swamps are the wetlands south of Sutherland Pond. Small stands also occur at the south end of Arthur's Pond and near Aleck Meadow Reservoir.

Ecology

The shrub swamps south of Sutherland Pond were once more open and supported communities of bog plants like the pitcher plant (Sarracenia purpurea) and cranberry (Vaccinium oxycoccus). These species have almost completely disappeared as the shrubs have grown, removing more water from the substrate and blocking light to the sphagnum. The Sutherland Swamp has been periodically flooded because of beaver dams along Mineral Spring Brook, and it is possible that this flooding has allowed the shrubby swamp to persist.

History

Shrub swamps are short-lived communities. They replace sedge meadows as wet basins fill and water levels drop. They are eventually replaced by red maple swamps.

Also Called

Selected References

For general references see the reference page.

Photos: Paul Harwood, Kerry Barringer