Page 8 - Tallinna Ülikool
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2.
Mires are natural monuments
Mire landscapes develop slowly. Much of the mireland is no longer present. The remaining mires are changing due to drainage, air pollution as well as mire uses, such as emerging mire tourism. A prerequisite for the recovery of the ancient look of the mires is the restoration
of their damaged water regime.
Mires are ancient habitats. In Estonia, mires began to form on the edge of the ice that was retreating at the end of the last Ice Age, ten to eleven thousand years ago. In tropical count- ries, the age of mires reaches to hundreds of thousands of years. Biota and habitats of mires are more or less the same as they were at the time of their formation.
Dwarf birch (Betula nana)
Alpine butterwort (Pinguicula alpina) / L. Truus
Yellow marsh saxifrage (Saxifraga hirculus)
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TEN REASONS TO RESTORE ESTONIAN MIRES / 2019
