'Ghost forests' are spreading across US coastal regions Popular Science - msnNOW

A new study published on April 4 in the journal Ecological Applications found that over the last several decades, a sizable portion of the forested wetlands in a coastal wildlife refuge on North Carolina’s Coastal Plain became “ghost forests”—eerily large stands of dead, leafless trees.

“The forested wetlands of North Carolina are extremely vulnerable to climate exchange,” says lead author Emily Ury, a recent biology doctoral graduate from Duke University.

“This is going to be part of a major ecological transition on our coastlines as we move into our climate future,” says senior author Emily Bernhardt, an ecologist at Duke University.  .

The marshes taking over these wetland forests are incredibly important ecosystems.

But the potential loss of the forests is still a major concern, says Bernhardt.

In particular, the ghost forests seem to have been encouraged by a series of extreme weather events including several years of drought (which prevents freshwater from rinsing out accumulated salt), fires and, in August 2011, Hurricane Irene. .

“One of the really nice things about this study is that it showed that that gradual transition from forest to marsh that you would expect with sea level rise was really punctuated by Hurricane Irene,” says Matt Kirwan, an associate professor at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science who was not involved in the research. ?

But from space, “you can really see the extent of these stands that are dying, and it extends beyond what we had originally thought.” And while maps of projected sea level rise often focus on the outer fringes of the coast, Bernhardt says, that salt water can seep farther inland than you might suspect

“We’ve worked really hard through legislation and protection to hold on to these remaining coastal forested wetlands, and now they’re threatened by something that doesn’t respect those boundaries,” says Bernhardt.