DoomsdaysCW<p>Why <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Ecologists" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Ecologists</span></a> Are Haunted by the Rapid Growth of <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/GhostForests" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>GhostForests</span></a></p><p>A study in North Carolina of dying <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/trees" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>trees</span></a> may represent a foreboding preview of what may come to <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/coastal" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>coastal</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ecosystems" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>ecosystems</span></a> worldwide.</p><p>by Jim Morrison</p><p>"As the ocean intrudes and saltwater rises, it kills trees and creates these ghost forests—bare trunks, and stumps, ashen tombstones marking a once-thriving coastal ecosystem. In North Carolina, <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/pine" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>pine</span></a>, <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/RedMaple" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>RedMaple</span></a>, <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/sweetgum" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>sweetgum</span></a> and bald <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/cypress" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>cypress</span></a> forests are being replaced by saltmarsh. Eventually, that saltmarsh will be replaced by open water, a shift that leads to significant and complex costs to the environment and the local economy. The loss of forests will reduce carbon storage, further fueling climate change, and the agriculture industry, timber interests will suffer as saltwater moves inland."</p><p><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ClimateChange" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>ClimateChange</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ClimateCrisis" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>ClimateCrisis</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Saltwater" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Saltwater</span></a> </p><p>Read more: <a href="https://getpocket.com/explore/item/why-ecologists-are-haunted-by-the-rapid-growth-of-ghost-forests?utm_source=pocket-newtab" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">getpocket.com/explore/item/why</span><span class="invisible">-ecologists-are-haunted-by-the-rapid-growth-of-ghost-forests?utm_source=pocket-newtab</span></a></p>