Many unique plants and animals inhabit peatlands due to the unique physical and chemical properties that occur in these wetlands. The Sphagnum mosses are the primary peat-building plants in bogs. The mosses grow only on the surface layer at a rate of one-quarter to four inches per year. The layers at the bottom of the sphagnum mat die and slowly convert to peat. A variety of emergent plants often grow on the surface including cotton grass, sedges, cranberries, and blueberries. Trees can also grow but are often stunted and may be less than five feet tall even after hundreds of years. In peatlands further south, botanical diversity is often greater than in northern areas.

Bogs, if you recall, have limited surface and groundwater flow. This results in low amounts of nutrients available to plants. To compensate for the low nutrient availability many bog plants have developed unique adaptations to compensate for the lack of nutrients. The pitcher plant and sundew are two unique species that have adapted to low nitrogen levels by becoming carnivorous. Invertebrates, amphibians, and even small mammals may fall into the modified leaves that hold water. The pitcher plant leaves than extract the nitrogen from the animal and thus avoids nutrient deficiency. Other plants associated with bogs include sphagnum moss, cotton grass, cranberry, blueberry, pine, Labrador tea, and tamarack.

A relatively large number of mammals and birds, and lesser numbers of reptiles and amphibians inhabit peatlands. Large mammals such as moose and caribou routinely inhabit peatlands. A number of small shrew species also live in peatlands. Birds, including waterfowl, inhabit peatlands. However, the large numbers seen in other wetland types are often absent due to a lack of open water. Numerous songbirds, owls, and rails also inhabit peatlands.

A different set of plants are found in pocosins including loblolly bay, red bay, and sweet bay, and evergreen shrubs like titi, fetterbush, and zenobia. Pocosins provide important habitat for many animals, including some endangered species like the red-cockaded woodpecker. They are especially important as the last refuge for black bears in coastal Virginia and North Carolina, and the red wolf has recently been reintroduced in North Carolina pocosins.