Like all wetlands, peatlands perform numerous functions and are valuable to humans, but not all bogs and fens perform all functions. Here are some of the functions performed by peatlands.

Peatlands absorb precipitation and can reduce or prevent flooding downstream.
Click here to see the water holding capacity of sphagnum moss.

Peatlands are important for their carbon sequestration capabilities. The dead trees, plants and moss in peatlands undergo slow anaerobic (low oxygen) decomposition. This process is slow enough that in many cases the bog grows rapidly and stores more carbon from the atmosphere than is released. By storing large amounts of carbon in peat deposits, bogs and fens are known as carbon sinks.

Peat is economically valuable. It is mined and sold as a soil amendment that increases the water holding capacity of agricultural and horticultural soils. Also, as previously mentioned, peatlands are important plant and animal habitats.

Peatlands are valued as a means of learning about climatic conditions and vegetation regimes since the last ice age. Since their layers can build up over thousands of years, pollen counts can be sampled and used to reconstruct plant communities. In addition, European archaeologists have been able to excavate well preserved artifacts, including people, from bogs that date back thousands of years.