Peatlands mitigate habitat fragmentation or its consequences. For a number of species peatlands provide temporary shelter, food and breeding places, stepping stones for migration or even permanent refugia. Their inaccessibility and peacefulness have made many peatlands the last refuges of species that are not necessarily bound to peatlands, but that have been expelled from intensively-used surroundings. In this manner, the peat swamp forests of Borneo and Sumatra are among the last refuges for orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus and P. abelii), the Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae) and the Malayan tapir (Tapirus indicus), in the midst of intensively logged forests on mineral soils.

With their specific environmental conditions and (with some exceptions) their resilience to climate change, peatlands host numerous azonal and intrazonal species. These include many relic species that have found stable habitat conditions in a changing climate. The phenomenon becomes especially evident when changes such as anthropogenic transformation of landscapes, climate change and related changes in the environment occur.

Peatlands are able to immobilise large amounts of carbon and water and rapidly release them under certain conditions. Peatland biodiversity not only depends strongly on climate, it also strongly influences climate. By means of their peat-forming plants, peatlands are able to immobilise large amounts of carbon and water, but they can also release these rapidly under certain conditions. Peat-forming plants can grow and form peat in the high Arctic, where peatlands provide insulation for permafrost which in turn maintains the moist and cool air responsible for climatic features of the Arctic region.