Ghost forests could hold the key to save Earth from dying: What are they?

Scientists say they are not just visual symbols of climate change, but key natural laboratories for understanding the planet's future.

In Short

• Ghost forests form due to rising sea levels and saltwater intrusion
• Dead trees absorb water, reducing nutrients reaching soil
• Understanding these processes helps protect vulnerable forests

New research into eerie “ghost forests” forming along coastlines may hold critical clues to how Earth’s ecosystems respond to climate change, and how we might protect them.

Ghost forests, created by rising sea levels and saltwater intrusion, are becoming increasingly common along the eastern United States. These landscapes, once filled with lush green trees, now stand as haunting clusters of gray, lifeless trunks.

Scientists say they are not just visual symbols of climate change, but key natural laboratories for understanding the planet’s future.

At the University of Delaware, a team of researchers is studying how these dying ecosystems function beneath the surface. Their findings were presented at the American Chemical Society Spring 2026 Meeting, a major scientific gathering featuring thousands of research presentations.

“Ghost forests serve as powerful, visible warnings of climate change,” said Samantha Chittakone, an environmental engineering student involved in the study. She described the stark contrast between healthy inland forests and the dying trees closer to shore, where rising seas are steadily poisoning salt-sensitive vegetation.

The research focuses on a lesser-known but vital process called “stemflow,” rainwater that travels down tree trunks and carries nutrients into the soil. Scientists studied stemflow in sweetgum trees, comparing healthy, stressed, and dead specimens.

Their findings reveal a troubling shift. Dead and dying trees allow significantly less stemflow to reach the forest floor. Instead, these trees absorb much of the water themselves, effectively cutting off the supply of nutrients and organic carbon to the surrounding soil ecosystem.

“Dead trees are acting like sponges,” explained researcher Yu-Ping Chin. “This disrupts the flow of essential nutrients, impacting not just the trees, but the entire forest floor.”

The team also discovered unusually high sugar concentrations in stemflow from stressed and dying trees.

This could alter soil microbial communities, triggering cascading effects on moss, plants, and other organisms that depend on balanced nutrient cycles.

These underground changes are critical because coastal forests play a major role in storing carbon. Disruptions in nutrient and water flow could weaken this capacity, accelerating climate change.

Researchers believe that understanding these processes will help predict which forests are most vulnerable as sea levels rise, and guide strategies to protect them.

“Stemflow is a significant transporter of nutrients,” said Chittakone. “It’s something we should not overlook, especially in these fragile ecosystems.”

As ghost forests continue to spread, they may offer one of the clearest warnings, and perhaps solutions, in the fight against a warming planet.

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