Ghost forests: Learn more as Halloween sneaks up!

These eerie forests, filled with standing dead trees, tell a story on the effects of sea level rise and extreme flooding. And scientists with the USGS are investigating!

When coastal forests are inundated with salt water or frequently flooded, trees can be stressed to levels they can’t withstand. If trees don’t survive, coastal forests can transform into different types of settings such as marshes or open water, creating ghost forests and leaving behind remnants of the ecosystems that once were.

What the USGS knows…

Coastal ghost forests typically occur in low-lying areas, and USGS scientists are studying how and where these shifts are happening across the nation. The USGS and partners are also working to forecast what areas might be impacted in the future, considering various sea level rise scenarios. 

Changes can lead to potentially positive or negative impacts. Healthy coastal forests provide numerous benefits such as supporting wildlife habitat, filtering pollutants and offering flood protection along coastlines, while marshes also provide species habitat, improve water quality and absorb floodwaters, among many other purposes.

USGS science can be used by decisionmakers such as land and wildlife managers as they consider the costs and benefits of conservation and restoration.

An example: The Chesapeake Bay

The eastern U.S. is a particular concern, as these transitions are taking place up and down the Atlantic coast. The USGS has projects in several areas, including, for example, ongoing research in the Delmarva Peninsula within the Chesapeake Bay. This region consists of several low sloped landscapes, which allows for rapid change to occur.

Drilling into the trees

Here’s where it gets even more interesting! The USGS and partners recently drilled into trees to see what’s inside. Why? To understand the role of ghost forests in greenhouse gas fluxes.

Trees are known to naturally absorb and release gases, but there’s limited research on whether and how that process changes when coastal forests die. A recent study finds that standing dead trees in ghost forests have tiny organisms that actually convert methane, a potent greenhouse gas, to carbon dioxide, which is less potent.

This insight is another piece of the puzzle as officials consider the trade-offs for how to manage these landscapes.

The USGS is a coauthor on that study, which was led by Hollins University. 

Share the tale

Don’t forget to share what you learned with friends! Do they know ghost forests are real?