When saltwater inundates coastal forests as sea levels rise, it kills salt-sensitive trees, leaving “ghost forests” of bare snags behind.
When saltwater inundates coastal forests as sea levels rise, it kills salt-sensitive trees, leaving “ghost forests” of bare snags behind. A new study from North Carolina State University explores how changes in vegetation affect coastal bird species.
Over the next century, a projected rise in sea levels will lead to chronic inundation and saltwater exposure in coastal forests around the world. When saltwater kills standing trees, forests are replaced by more salt-tolerant shrubs and grasses, which shifts vegetation closer to the ground and creates habitat for birds that prefer the understory rather than the forest canopy.
Researchers studied these changes in coastal forests on the Albemarle-Pamlico Peninsula, home to North America’s second-largest estuary, where freshwater from rivers meets the ocean.
Read more at North Carolina State University
