Latvia is located in the western part of the East European Plain between 55 deg 40' and 58 deg 05' Northern latitude and 20 deg 58' and 28 deg 14' Eastern longitude. The area of Latvia covers 64,635 sq. km of which approximately 10 percent is covered by peatlands and mires. The climate, with higher precipitation over evaporation, slightly undulated relief and impermeable deposits in the bottoms of many depressions favours development of diverse mire types, such as fens and raised bogs. They have been formed under different paleoeco-logical conditions and time. The greater part of them is overgrown by trees and shrubs due to draining of the area and the surrounding lands; some areas are used for agricultural purposes. Therefore, just 4.9 percent of the total area is in natural conditions and occupied by fen, transition or bog biotopes.
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