Ghost Forests: A Silent Warning from North Carolina’s Coast

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Rising seas. Dredged rivers. Dying forests. In this episode of Shoresides, we investigate one of North Carolina’s most subtle yet devastating climate threats: ghost forests. These vast expanses of standing dead trees are creeping inland, driven by rising sea levels and relentless dredging of the Cape Fear River.

UNCW scientists Monica Rother and Andrea Hawkes join us to explain how their research—combining tree ring data and microscopic marine organisms—paints a stark picture of environmental change. They discuss why ghost forests are spreading, how they disrupt ecosystems, and what it means for communities, flooding, and environmental justice across the region.

Rother and Hawks are at the forefront of research on North Carolina’s ghost forests, using innovative methods to track the impact of climate change and human activity on coastal ecosystems. Rother, a forest ecologist and tree ring scientist, analyzes tree growth patterns to understand long-term environmental changes, revealing how rising salinity levels stress and ultimately kill freshwater trees. Hawks, a micropaleontologist, studies tiny marine organisms preserved in sediment to reconstruct past sea level changes and pinpoint when saltwater intrusion began affecting these landscapes. 

Together, their interdisciplinary work provides a clearer picture of how dredging and rising seas accelerate the spread of ghost forests, offering crucial insights into the future of coastal resilience and community health.

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1. Ghost forests are dead tree stands caused by rising salinity. These eerie landscapes form when saltwater intrusion—driven by rising sea levels, coastal erosion, and human activities like dredging—kills freshwater-dependent trees, leaving behind lifeless trunks.

2. They are a visible sign of climate change. Ghost forests are one of the most striking indicators of global warming, as they mark areas where land is transitioning from forest to marsh due to sea-level rise and increasing storm surges.

3. The Cape Fear River dredging accelerates ghost forest formation. In Wilmington, NC, repeated deepening of the Cape Fear River has allowed tides to push saltwater farther inland, increasing salinity in freshwater wetlands and rapidly killing off bald cypress and other trees.

4. They disrupt ecosystems and increase flooding risks. The loss of forested wetlands means less natural flood protection, leading to higher flood risks for nearby communities. 

5. Ghost forests are expanding along the East and Gulf Coasts. While they are particularly noticeable in North Carolina, ghost forests are appearing from the Mid-Atlantic to the Gulf Coast.

Useful articles...

1. Bernhardt, E. (2022, June 29). “Coastal freshwater wetlands squeezed between migrating salt marshes and working lands.” Science Advances, 8(26).

2. Carolina Public Press (2022, August 12). “‘Ghost forests’ are creeping across NC’s coast at an alarming rate. Researchers are trying to stop them.” Accessed October 29, 2024.

3. Coastal Review (2022, June 15). “Research network to link e

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