Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Wednesday 2 august 2017

Climate change before your eyes: Seas rise and trees die

By WAYNE PARRY converted to marshland.
Associated Press Photographs show the rate
PORT REPUBLIC, N.J. (AP) — of coastal forest loss is four
They’re called “ghost for- times greater now than it
ests” — dead trees along was during the 1930s, he
vast swaths of coastline in- said.
vaded by rising seas, some- Seas off the East Coast
thing scientists call one of have risen by 1.3 feet over
the most visible markers of the last 100 years, said Ben
climate change. Horton, a Rutgers Univer-
The process has happened sity professor and expert on
naturally for thousands of sea level rise. That is a fast-
years, but it has acceler- er pace than for the past
ated in recent decades as 2,000 years combined, he
polar ice melts and raises said. Some of the most dra-
sea levels, scientists say, matic anecdotal evidence
pushing salt water farther of the acceleration in ghost
inland and killing trees in forest creation is along the
what used to be thriving Savannah River between
freshwater plains. Georgia and South Caro-
Efforts are underway world- lina, Noe said.
wide to determine exactly When his team first got there
how quickly the creation 10 years ago, “it looked
of ghost forests is increas- like the trees were under
ing. But scientists agree the a little stress, but they were
startling sight of dead trees This undated photo provided by Matthew Kirwan shows Phragmites and Spartina marshland all alive,” he said. “But five
in once-healthy areas is an expanding into a ghost forest in Robbins, Md. years later, the vast major-
easy-to-grasp example of Associated Press ity of them were dead. That
the consequences of cli- thousands of acres of salt- forests have less habitat. gers University professor. happened right in front of
mate change. killed trees stretching from And the death of the trees “There is a lot of change our eyes, much faster than
“I think ghost forests are the Canada down the East makes soil microbes release going on,” said Greg Noe, we expected.”
most obvious indicator of Coast, around Florida and nitrogen, which adds to ni- a research ecologist with Marcelo Ardon, a biology
climate change anywhere over to Texas. trogen already occurring the U.S. Geological Sur- professor at North Caro-
on the Eastern coast of the The intruding salt water from other sources, includ- vey. “It’s dramatic and it’s lina State University, studied
U.S.,” said Matthew Kirwan, changes coastal ecosys- ing agricultural runoff, to changing faster than it has one site called the Palmet-
a professor at Virginia Insti- tems, creating marshes contribute to algae blooms before in human history.” to Pear Tree Preserve on
tute of Marine Science who where forests used to and reduced oxygen that Quantifying the rate of in- Albemarle Sound in North
is studying ghost forests in be. This has numerous ef- can sicken or kill fish. crease in ghost forests is a Carolina from 2006 to 2009.
his state and Maryland. fects on the environment, But the conversion of forest major focus of Able’s re- When he returned in 2016,
“It was dry, usable land 50 though many scientists into marshland produces search. Some scientists say he said, “what used to
years ago; now it’s marsh- caution against viewing “extremely productive” the increase began around look like a healthy cypress
es with dead stumps and them in terms of “good” or wetlands that feed and the time of the Industrial swamp, now the trees are
dead trees.” “bad.” What benefits one shelter fish and shellfish. Revolution, while others say dead and the water level is
It is happening around the species or ecosystem might The Atlantic croaker fish, for the speedup began more a lot higher. The place has
world, but researchers say harm another one, they instance, was rare 15 years recently than that. completely changed. I’ve
new ghost forests are par- say. ago in southern New Jersey In the past 100 years, Kirwan checked overhead satel-
ticularly apparent in North For instance, migratory waters but now is abun- said, 100,000 acres of forest lite photos and you can
America, with hundreds of birds that rely on coastal dant, said Ken Able, a Rut- in the Chesapeake Bay has see the trees dying.”q