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exist at any particular site. Quantifying non - market values, <br />particularly in the case of non -game species, was beyond the <br />scope of this study. <br />Foster (1986), drawing on the work of several other authors, <br />noted that wetlands may provide many kinds of non - market values. <br />When divided categorically these may be defined as: 1) <br />ecological; 2) experiential; and, 3) educational. Although <br />ecological, experiential, and educational values are sometimes <br />the subject of market transactions, the infrequency of this <br />requires their assignment to the non - market category. <br />The ecological values which peatlands can provide include <br />habitat for plant and animal species, water purification, and <br />streamflow attenuation. <br />Peatlands, as previously noted in sections 5.1 and 5.2, <br />provide habitat to many species of both plants and animals. Not <br />all of the species that inhabit a peatland are entirely dependent <br />upon it for their existence. Some species of both plants and <br />animals do exist only in some peatlands, and would most likely be <br />exterminated if those habitats were lost. Other animal species <br />may be either seasonally or migratorially dependent upon <br />peatlands and would use them at only certain times of the year. <br />Their numbers would nonetheless be expected to decline, even if <br />only locally, in the event of habitat loss. Some peatlands, <br />therefore, have an extreme value for maintaining biological <br />diversity and harboring rare, threatened, and endangered species. <br />The role of wetland areas in maintaining stream water <br />• 57 <br />