{"id":12107,"date":"2021-04-29T17:18:10","date_gmt":"2021-04-29T11:48:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/?p=12107"},"modified":"2021-04-29T17:18:10","modified_gmt":"2021-04-29T11:48:10","slug":"sea-level-rise-and-ghost-forests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/sea-level-rise-and-ghost-forests\/","title":{"rendered":"SEA LEVEL RISE AND GHOST FORESTS"},"content":{"rendered":"

Relevance: Prelims\/Mains: G.S paper III: Environment<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Context<\/strong><\/p>\n

Huge swaths of contiguous forest are dying. They\u2019re now known in the scientific community as \u2018ghost forests\u2019<\/p>\n

Why in news?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Permanent flooding has become commonplace on this low-lying peninsula, nestled behind North Carolina\u2019s Outer Banks. The trees growing in the water are small and stunted. Many are dead.<\/p>\n

Throughout coastal North Carolina, evidence of forest die-off is everywhere. Nearly every roadside ditch I pass while driving around the region is lined with dead or dying trees.<\/p>\n

The study<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  • As an\u00a0ecologist studying wetland response to sea level rise, I know this flooding is evidence that climate change is altering landscapes along the Atlantic coast.<\/li>\n
  • It\u2019s emblematic of environmental changes that also threaten wildlife, ecosystems, and local farms and forestry businesses.<\/li>\n
  • Like all living organisms, trees die. But what is happening here is not normal. Large patches of trees are dying simultaneously, and saplings aren\u2019t growing to take their place.<\/li>\n
  • And it\u2019s not just a local issue: Seawater is raising salt levels in coastal woodlands along the entire Atlantic Coastal Plain, from Maine to Florida.<\/li>\n
  • Huge swaths of contiguous forest are dying. They\u2019re now known in the scientific community as \u201cghost forests.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    The insidious role of salt<\/strong><\/p>\n

      \n
    • Sea level rise\u00a0driven by climate change\u00a0is making wetlands wetter in many parts of the world. It\u2019s also making them saltier.<\/li>\n
    • Every couple of months, I suit up in heavy rubber waders and a mesh shirt for protection from biting insects, and haul over 100 pounds of salt and other equipment out along the flooded trail to my research site.<\/li>\n
    • After two years of effort, the salt didn\u2019t seem to be affecting the plants or soil processes that we were monitoring.<\/li>\n
    • Rising seas are inundating North Carolina\u2019s coast, and saltwater is seeping into wetland soils. Salts move through groundwater during phases when freshwater is depleted, such as during droughts.<\/li>\n
    • Saltwater also moves through canals and ditches, penetrating inland with help from wind and high tides.<\/li>\n
    • Dead trees with pale trunks, devoid of leaves and limbs, are a telltale sign of high salt levels in the soil. A 2019 report called them wooden tombstones.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      As the trees die, more salt-tolerant shrubs and grasses move in to take their place.<\/p>\n

      The state\u2019s coastal region has suffered a rapid and widespread loss of forest, with cascading impacts on wildlife, including the endangered\u00a0red wolf\u00a0and\u00a0red-cockaded woodpecker. Wetland forests\u00a0sequester and store large quantities of carbon, so forest die-offs also contribute to further climate change.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Relevance: Prelims\/Mains: G.S paper III: Environment Context Huge swaths of contiguous forest are dying. They\u2019re now known in the scientific<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12088,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42,844,1038],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-studies-iii-technology-economic-development-bio-diversity-environment-security-and-disaster-management","category-gs","category-gs-mains"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12107"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12107\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12109,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12107\/revisions\/12109"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}