There are about 155,000 ha of fen-like pine swamps (eutrophic pine bogs) in Finland, major part of which are situated in Northern Finland. In the classification system for drainability of peatlands, this type of peatlands had been placed in the first class. The study presents a new evaluation for the peatland type, based on vegetation and tree growth.
According to a previous study, the vegetation of fen-like pine swamps can be characterised by distinctive plant communities that seem to reflect the fertility and high pH of the underlying soil. In this study, the fen-like pine swamps were divided in two subtypes based on the vegetation: proper fen-like pine swamps and fen-like pine swamps with ericaceous shrubs. Both have distinctive vegetation, which is described in the article. The distribution of the subtypes seems to be different: fen-like pine swamps with ericaceous shrubs are more common in eastern parts of Northern Finland. The two subtypes could be divided in different drainability classes according to tree growth, proper fen-like pine swamps belonging to class 1 and fen-like pine swamps with ericaceous shrubs to class 4.
The article includes a summary in English.