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Bog in the winter

Greetings everyone. A couple of weeks ago, a friend and I went to a nearby bog close to Wooster, Ohio. With my friend being a high school horticulture teacher and me being a high school science teacher, we spent a long time looking closely at the plants.

I'm wondering if someone could correct/verify an observation I made? I noticed that the snow around the Sarrs (purple variety...I believe) were melted. My question is, why?

My theories are: #1. The decaying sphagnum, underneath is generating heat. #2. The sarrs are generating their own heat. #3. The dark color of the sarrs allows more heat to be absorbed from the light. #4. The sarrs have a "natural anti-freeze" that prevents them from freezing.

I'm going to try to post some pictures...I'm a novice at posting pictures on this website...we'll see if I can do it.

Thanks,
Dwight

http://s270.photobucket.com/albums/jj82/bethanddwight/Browns%20bog/?albumview=grid

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Panoramic of Brown's Bog
brownsbogpan3-1.jpg
 
Beautiful pictures. I believe that the ice is melting around the plants because as a plant grows up and pokes through the surface the ice around it is also thinner, thus holding less "coolness" in, and melting faster. You'll notice it's the same by the reeds and grasses, but not as dramatically; which leads to the coloration and heat of the darker plant which you suggest.

Those are some solid pitchers on those S. purpurea. Pretty fascinating how good they look buried in snow.

Thanks for sharing.

xvart.
 
those purps are fantastic. WOW! thanks for the pics. :) Interesting to see that polytrichum is the first moss species to recover from the frost. ;)
 
I'm glad that you are enjoying the pictures. If anyone is interested in seeing all of the pictures I took that day at Brown's bog, you can go to:
http://s270.photobucket.com/albums/jj82/bethanddwight/Browns%20bog/?albumview=grid&fullsize=P1020402-1.jpg

The guy in the picture is my friend, Eric, the hort teacher. A couple of other interesting things we found while visiting the area are the vaulted roots of the trees - due to the high water table. Found a tree that survived a lighting strike. Also saw a red-headed woodpecker (the picture of the bird in the photos). There were also a lot of ostritch (sp?) and cinnimon(sp?) ferns. I didn't see any, but there are also supposed to be some sundews that grow in the area, but I've never come across any during my other visits.

Have a great day!
Dwight
 
My guess about the melting would be that because S. purpurea's pitchers hold a lot of water, and water has a high specific heat capacity, its temperature tends to not change as rapidly as its surroundings. In this case, the pitcher is warmer than the snow around it, and in summer it would probably be cooler than the air around it.

Great pics BTW!

Also, I have a question for everyone concerning S. purp seedlings. In the 3rd picture from the top, I have a seedling with pitchers developing that look exactly the same shape as the little ones in the center of the photo (especially the operculum). Is that the way a typical purpurea seedling looks, or can other Sarracenia look like that too for the first few years (the seedling came unidentified and it could also be a hybrid with purp in it)?
 
I agree. Awesome pictures and beautiful Purps. I love the first one with the pitcher peeking out. :)
 
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