Climate change is driving ecological shifts in coastal regions of the world, where low topographic relief makes ecosystems particularly vulnerable to sea-level rise, salinization, storm surge, and other effects of global climate change. The consequences of rising water tables and salinity can penetrate well inland, and lead to particularly dramatic changes in freshwater forested wetlands dominated by tree species with low salt tolerance. The resulting loss of coastal forests could have significant implications to the coastal carbon cycle. We quantified the rates of vegetation change including land loss, forest loss, and shrubland expansion in North Carolina’s largest coastal wildlife refuge over 35 yr. Despite its protected status, and in the absence of any active forest management, 32% (31,600 hectares) of the refuge area has changed landcover classification during the study period. A total of 1,151 hectares of land was lost to the sea and ~19,300 hectares of coastal forest habitat was converted to shrubland or marsh habitat. As much as 11% of all forested cover in the refuge transitioned to a unique land cover type—“ghost forest”—characterized by standing dead trees and fallen tree trunks. The formation of this ghost forest transition state peaked prominently between 2011 and 2012, following Hurricane Irene and a 5-yr drought, with 4,500 ± 990 hectares of ghost forest forming during that year alone. This is the first attempt to map and quantify coastal ghost forests using remote sensing. Forest losses were greatest in the eastern portion of the refuge closest to the Croatan and Pamlico Sounds, but also occurred much further inland in low-elevation areas and alongside major canals. These unprecedented rates of deforestation and land cover change due to climate change may become the status quo for coastal regions worldwide, with implications for wetland function, wildlife habitat, and global carbon cycling.

中文翻译：

---

沿海景观的快速毁林海平面上升和极端事件驱动

气候变化正在推动世界里，低的地形地貌，使生态系统特别容易受到海平面上升，盐渍化，风暴潮，以及全球气候变化的其他影响的沿海地区的生态变化。地下水位和盐度上升的后果可以很好地渗透内陆，并导致由树种具有低耐盐性为主的淡水森林湿地特别戏剧性的变化。得到的沿海森林的损失可能会对沿海碳循环显著影响。我们量化的植被变化率包括土地减少，森林的损失，并在北卡罗莱纳州的最大的沿海野生动物保护区超过35年灌丛扩张。尽管它的受保护状态和在不存在任何活性森林管理，32％的（31，避难面积600公顷），在研究期间已经改变土地覆盖分类。共1151公顷的土地失去了大海，〜19300公顷沿海森林栖息地被转化为灌木或沼泽栖息地。不亚于转变为一个独特的土地覆盖类型 - “鬼森林”站在枯死的树木和倒下的树干-characterized避难所有森林覆盖的11％。在艾琳飓风和 5 年干旱之后，这种幽灵森林过渡状态的形成在 2011 年至 2012 年间达到显着峰值，仅在那一年就形成了 4,500 ± 990 公顷的幽灵森林。这是映射和使用遥感量化沿海鬼森林的首次尝试。森林的损失是最大的避难所的最靠近的克洛坦和帕姆利科声音东部的部分，但也发生了很多内陆低海拔地区和主要旁边的运河。森林砍伐和土地覆盖变化，由于气候变化，这些前所未有的速度可能会维持现状为全球沿海地区，与湿地功能，野生动物栖息地，以及全球碳循环的影响。