泥炭沼地即高沼地，是在温带草原，热带稀树草原，灌木地，山地草原和灌木丛生物群落的山地地区发现的一种栖息地，其特征是在酸性土壤上生长的植物。如今，高沼地通常是指未经耕种的丘陵土地（例如英格兰达特穆尔），但也有低洼的湿地（例如和前者都在英格兰西南部的萨默塞特郡的塞奇高沼（英语：Sedgemoor））。它与石楠荒原息息相关，尽管专家们在精确区分这两种植被方面存在分歧。通常，海拔和降雨量较高的地方叫高沼地，而石楠沼泽是更可能由人类活动(人为石楠荒原)产生的较低地带的那种。高沼地主要在热带非洲，北欧和西欧以及新热带界。世界上大多数的高沼地都是非常多样化的生态系统。在热带大草原上广泛分布的高沼地，生物多样性可能非常高。沼地还与苔原（地下土壤是多年冻土或永久冻结的土壤）有关系，体现为苔原和天然树木地带。苔原和之间的边界随着气候变化而不断变化。
石楠荒地和荒地是不列颠群岛最广泛的半自然植被地貌。不列颠东部的荒原与石楠荒原相似，但有泥炭覆盖。在西部沼泽上，泥炭层可能厚几米。
苏格兰语的“muirs”通常是指石楠沼泽，但也泛泛的包含草，羊胡子草，苔藓，蕨类和灌木丛（如岩高兰），而长着泥炭藓的更湿的沼泽地上的草藓算入酸沼这类当中。关于人类活动造成多少尚不确定。奥利弗·拉克汉姆写道，花粉分析表明，某些荒原（例如在苏格兰的岛屿或苏格兰最北部）显然是自然的，从未有过树木而奔宁山脉的许多荒原地区则在中石器时代造林。多少森林消失是由气候变化引起的，多少是由人类活动造成的，尚不确定。
在全世界的高沼中，栖息地多种多样。 因土壤和微气候的特色很强，故其中的特有种很常见。比如英格兰的埃克斯摩尔就出产一种在其严酷环境下出现的埃克斯摩尔马。在欧洲，与高沼相关的动物相里包含红松鸡（英语：Red grouse）、白尾鹞、灰背隼、欧金鸻、白腰杓鹬、云雀、草地鹨、草原石䳭、环颈鸫、黄嘴朱顶雀等鸟类。而别的生物支配了欧洲以外的高沼。因欧洲较冷，故此处高沼难见爬行动物，尽管别处高沼都有许多爬行动物，但欧洲的高沼仅有极北蝰。青蛙等两栖生物是高沼的象征物。当高沼的地力被畜牧过度透支时，木本植物多会消亡，只剩粗砺、惹人生厌的禾本科植物和蕨类，生物相会大大退化。
羊会在一部分山丘上繁殖，如苏格兰黑面羊和朗克羊（英语：Lonk (sheep)），只要海拔合适，它们就能在石楠沼泽上大量繁殖。
Burning of moorland has been practised for a number of reasons. For example, when grazing is insufficient to control growth. This is recorded in Britain in the fourteenth century. Uncontrolled burning frequently caused (and causes) problems, and was forbidden by statute in 1607. With the rise of sheep and grouse management in the nineteenth century it again became common practice. Heather is burnt at about 10 or 12 years old when it will regenerate easily. Left longer, the woodier stems will burn more aggressively and will hinder regrowth. Burning of moorland vegetation needs to be very carefully controlled as the peat itself can catch fire, and this can be difficult if not impossible to extinguish. In addition, uncontrolled burning of heather can promote alternative bracken and rough grass growth which ultimately produces poorer grazing. As a result, burning is now a controversial practice; Rackham calls it "second-best land management".
Mechanical cutting of the heather has been used in Europe, but it is important for the material to be removed to avoid smothering regrowth. If heather and other vegetation are left for too long, a large volume of dry and combustible material builds up. This may result in a wildfire burning out a large area, although it has been found that heather seeds germinate better if subject to the brief heat of controlled burning.
In terms of managing moorlands for wildlife, in the UK, vegetation characteristics are important for passerine abundance, whilst predator control benefits red grouse, golden plover, and curlew abundances. To benefit multiple species, many management options are required. However, management needs to be carried out in locations that are also suitable for species in terms of physical characteristics such as topography, climate and soil.
The development of a sensitivity to nature and one's physical surroundings grew with the rise of interest in landscape painting, and particularly the works of artists that favoured wide and deep prospects, and rugged scenery. To the English Romantic imagination, moorlands fitted this image perfectly, enhancing the emotional impact of the story by placing it within a heightened and evocative landscape. Moorland forms the setting of various works of late Romantic English literature, ranging from the Yorkshire moorland in Emily Brontë's and by Frances Hodgson Burnett to Dartmoor in Arthur Conan Doyle's Holmesian mystery .
Enid Blyton's Famous Five series featured the young protagonists adventuring across various moorlands where they confronted criminals or other individuals of interest. Such a setting enhanced the plot as the drama unfolded away from the functioning world where the children could solve their own problems and face greater danger. Moorland in the Forest of Bowland in Lancashire is the setting for Walter Bennett's , the true story of some of England's most infamous witch trials. In Erin Hunter's series, one of the four Clans, WindClan, lives in the moorland alone.
Michael Jecks, author of Knights Templar Mysteries, sets his books in and around Dartmoor, England. Paul Kingsnorth’s is also set on a western English moor, using the barren landscape and fields of heather to communicate themes of timelessness and distance from civilization.
The United Kingdom is home to an estimated 10–15% of the world's moors. Notable areas of upland moorland in Britain include the Lake District, the Pennines (including the Dark Peak and Forest of Bowland), Mid Wales, the Southern Uplands of Scotland, the Scottish Highlands, and a few very small pockets in western Herefordshire.
Colombia is one of only three countries in the world to be home to páramo (tropical moorland) and more than 60% of the paramo regions are found on its soil.
