Increasing the sea levels due to climate change leads to the destruction of the huge territories of coastal forests due to an increase in the concentration of salts in the soil. The appearance of dead forests-ghosts was recorded in the United States, however, according to scientists, the catastrophe will affect coastal ecosystems around the world. It is reported by Edition The Conversation.
The flooding of the shores of sea water increases the level of salt in the forests along the entire Atlantic coastal plain, from the state of Maine to Florida. Salts move through groundwater in those periods when fresh water is depleted, for example, during the droughts. Salted water is also moving through the channels and docks, penetrating sushi deep into the wind and tide. Salmon begins to kill trees, their bark pale, and leaves cease to grow. Dead forests were nicknamed by the ghost forests, and only salt-resistant shrubs and herbs grow in them.
Thanks to satellite images, scientists have found that over the past 35 years more than 10 percent of forest wetlands in the National Wildlife Reserve Alligator River were lost. Fast sea level increases ahead of the ability of these forests to adapt to more wet and salty conditions. In addition, extreme weather phenomena caused by climate change (strong storms, frequent hurricanes and drought) are applied additional damage.
According to the researchers, in these conditions, the best strategy will plant with salt-resistant marsh plants, since forests save anyway will not succeed, but it is still better than the complete flooding of wetlands with salt water.