As sea levels continue to rise along the Chesapeake Bay, more and more rural land neighboring the bay will be reclaimed as wetlands. Keryn Gedan, an assistant professor of biology at the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences, recently published the first effort to synthesize the growing number of studies of land conversion driven by sea-level rise.
Water levels are rising along the coast of Maryland, which causes saltwater to permeate the soil and create an environment hostile to trees and agricultural plants. In the Chesapeake Bay region alone, more than 150 square miles of forest have converted to marshland since the mid-1800s. This phenomenon creates “ghost forests,” stands of dead trees with new marshlands lapping at their bleached trunks. Rates of forest retreat are accelerating around the world, with mid-Atlantic forests retreating inland more than twice as fast as they were 150 years ago.
Dr. Gedan’s paper, published alongside Matt Kirwan, an associate professor at William and Mary’s Virginia Institute of Marine Science, highlights the growing recognition that sea-level rise will mostly impact rural, privately-owned land. Many landowners see upland-to-wetland conversion as an economic loss, however wetlands provide valuable ecosystem services to the public by improving water quality, supporting marine fisheries and protecting against flooding.