Abstract
“Ghost cypress”—standing trees killed by increased salinity—indicate sea-level rise (SLR) effects along lower reaches of many coastal plain rivers. Mature cypress can survive indefinitely in permanently flooded sites, but experience mortality at salinities as low as 2 to 3 ppt. Thus, ghost trees in permanently inundated sites can indicate mortality due to increased salinity. Ghost cypress were mapped along the margins of the Neuse River estuary and fluvial-estuarine transition zone (FETZ), along with co-indicators of salinity as a potential cause of death. The distribution was compared with other indicators of upstream propagation of SLR effects; all occurred within a 25 km river reach. Many ghost cypress are consistent with SLR-driven mortality, but in the upper FETZ the co-indicators argue against it, and throughout the study area some ghost cypress lack co-indicators of salinity effects and may have been killed by other factors. The upstream limit of ghost cypress with co-indicators suggesting possible SLR-driven mortality, and the downstream limit of Nyssa aquatica and N. biflora, whose habitats and niches overlap almost entirely with Taxodium except for less salinity tolerance, occur downstream of other indicators of the leading edge of SLR. The furthest upstream is the hydraulic impact of backwater effects on river flow. Downstream, other effects are encountered: a transition from occasionally to frequently flooded wetlands, sedimentary burial of Pleistocene alluvial terraces, and a shift from dominantly mineral floodplain soils to Histosols. The ecological indicators of cypress and tupelo are furthest downstream. Hydraulic (backwater) effects are the leading edge of SLR impacts on the Neuse, trailed by geomorphological, sedimentological, and pedological indicators. Though biota often respond more rapidly to changes than landforms and soils, ecological indicators such as ghost cypress and forest-to-marsh transitions that are salinity dependent are the downstream-most sentinels of sea-level encroachment in rivers.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allen ST, Keim RG, Dean TJ (2019) Contrasting effects of flooding on tree growth and stand density determine aboveground production, in baldcypress forests. For Ecol Manag 432:345–355
Bellis V, O’Connor MP, Riggs SR (1975) Estuarine shoreline erosion in the Albemarle-Pamlico Region of North Carolina. University of North Carolina Sea Grant Publication UNC-SG-75-29, Raleigh, p 67
Brinson MM, Christian RR, Blum LK (1995) Multiple states in the sea-level induced transition from terrestrial forest to estuary. Estuaries 18:648–659
Conner WH, Askew GR (1992) Response of baldcypress and lobolly-pine seedlings to short-term saltwater flooding. Wetlands 12:230–233
Cowart L, Corbett DR, Walsh JP (2011) Shoreline change along sheltered coastlines: insights from the Neuse River Estuary, NC, USA. Remote Sens 3:1516–1534
Daniels RB, Gamble EE, Wheeler WH, Holzhey CS (1972) Carolina geological society and Atlantic coastal plain geological association, field trip guidebook (the geology of the NC Coastal Plain from the sounds Near New Bern to the Piedmont of Wake County). Carolina Geological Society, Raleigh, p 33
Daniels RB, Kleiss HJ, Buol SW, Byrd HI, Phillips JA (1984) Soil systems in North Carolina. Raleigh: North Carolina Agri Res Serv Bulletin 467:77
Demaree D (1932) Submerging experiments with. Taxodium Ecol 13:258–262
Duberstein JA, Krauss MJ, Baldwin et al (2020) Small gradients in salinity have large effects on stand water use in freshwater wetland forests. For Ecol Manag 473:118308
Federal Geographic Data Committee (2013) Classification of wetlands and deepwater habitats of the United States. FGDC-STD-004-2013. Wetlands Subcommittee, Federal Geographic Data Committee and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Washington
Giese GL, Wilder HB, Parker GG Jr (1985) Hydrology of major estuaries and sounds of North Carolina. U. S. Geological Survey Water Supply Paper 2221
Grand Pre C, Culver SJ, Mallinson DJ et al (2011) Rapid Holocene coastal change revealed by high-resolution micropalentological analysis, Pamlico Sound, North Carolina, USA. Quatern Res 76:319–334
Hackney CT, Avery GG (2015) Tidal wetland community response to varying levels of flooding by saline water. Wetlands 35:227–236
Houston JR (2021) Sea-level acceleration: analysis of the world’s high-quality tide gages. J Coastal Res 37:272–279
Keeland BD, Young PJ (1997) Long-term trends of baldcypress (Taxodium distichum (L.) Rich.) at Caddo Lake, Texas. Wetlands 17:559–566
Kopp RE, Horton BP, Kemp AC, Tebaldi C (2015) Past and future sea level rise along the Coast of North Carolina, USA. Clim Change 132:693–707
Lentz EE, Zeigler SL, Thieler R, Plant NG (2021) Probabilistic patterns of inundation and biogeomorphic changes due to sea-level rise along the northeastern U.S. Atlantic Coast. Landscape Ecol 36:223–241
Magolan JL, Halls JN (2020) A multi-decadal investigation of tidal creek wetland changes, water level rises, and ghost forests. Remote Sens 12:1141
Mallinson D, Culver S, Leorri E et al (2018) Barrier island and estuary co-evolution in response to Holocene climate and sea-level change: Pamlico Sound and the outer banks barrier islands, North Carolina, USA. In: Moore LJ, Murray AB et al (eds) Barrier dynamics and response to changing climate. Springer, Berlin, pp 91–120
Mattoon WR (1915) The southern cypress. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington
Moorhead KK, Brinson MM (1995) Response of wetlands to rising sea level in the lower coastal plain of North Carolina. Ecol Appl 5:261–271
Nelson DW (1973) Late-pleistocene and holocene clay mineralogy and sedimentation in the Pamlico Sound Region, North Carolina Ph.D. dissertation. University of South Carolina, Columbia
Noe GB, Bourg NA, Krauss KW et al (2021) Watershed and estuarine controls both influence plant community in tree growth changes in tidal freshwater forested wetlands along two U.S. Mid-atlantic Rivers. Forests 12:1182
North Carolina Division of Environmental Quality (2012) Lower Neuse River Data. Neuse River Water Quality Modeling. URL: https://deq.nc.gov/about/divisions/water-resources/water-resources-data/water-sciences-home-page/estuarine-monitoring-team/lower-neuse-river-data. Last accessed 14 Nov 2022
Nyman JS, Carloss M, Delaune RD, Patrick WH (1994) Erosion rather than plant dieback as the mechanism of marsh loss in an estuarine marsh. Earth Surf Proc Land 19:69–84
Penfound WT, Hathaway ES (1938) Plant communities in the marshlands of Southeast Louisiana. Ecol Monogr 8:1–56
Peterson AT, Li X (2015) Niche-based projections of wetlands shifts with marine intrusion from sea level rise: an example analysis for North Carolina. Environ Earth Sci 73:1479–1490
Phillips JD (1986) Spatial analysis of shoreline erosion, Delaware Bay, New Jersey. Ann Assoc Am Geogr 76:50–62
Phillips JD (1992) Delivery of upper-basin sediment to the lower Neuse River, North Carolina, U.S.A. Earth Surf Proc Land 17:699–709
Phillips JD (1997) Human agency, Holocene sea level, and floodplain accretion in coastal plain rivers. J Coastal Res 13:854–866
Phillips JD (2011) The structure of ecological state transitions: amplification, synchronization, and constraints. Ecol Complex 8:336–346
Phillips JD (2018a) Coastal wetlands, sea-level, and the dimensions of geomorphic resilience. Geomorphology 305:173–184
Phillips JD (2018b) Environmental gradients and complexity in coastal landscape response to sea level rise. CATENA 169:107–118
Phillips JD (2022a) Geomorphic impacts of Hurricane Florence on the lower Neuse River: portents and particulars. Geomorphology 397:108026
Phillips JD (2022b) Geomorphology of the fluvial-estuarine transition zone, Neuse River, North Carolina. Earth Surf Proc Land 47:2044–2061
Powell AS, Jackson L, Ardon M (2016) Disentangling the effects of drought, salinity, and sulfate on baldcypress growth in a coastal plain restored wetland. Restor Ecol 24:548–557
Riggs SR, Ames DV (2003) Drowning of North Carolina: sea-level rise and estuarine dynamics. University of North Carolina Sea Grant Publication UNC-SG, Raleigh
Schneider RL, Sharitz RR (1988) Hydrochory and regeneration in a bald cypress-water tupelo swamp forest. Ecology. https://doi.org/10.2307/1941261
Shaffer GP, Wood WB, Hoeppner WBSS et al (2009) Degradation of baldcypress-water tupelo swamp to marsh and open water in southeastern Louisiana, USA: an irreversible trajectory? J Coastal Res 54:152–165
Shankman D, Kortright RM (1994) Hydrogeomorphic conditions limiting the distribution of baldcypress in the southeastern United States. Phys Geogr 15:282–295
Smart LS, Taillie PJ, Poulter B et al (2020) Aboveground carbon loss associated with the spread of ghost forests as sea levels rise. Environ Res Lett 15:104028
Smith JAM (2013) The role of Phragmites australis in mediating inland salt marsh migration in a mid-atlantic estuary. PLoS ONE 8:e65091
Stewart SR, Berg R (2019) National hurricane center tropical cyclone report. Hurricane Florence. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-46928-9
Sun J (1995) Submergence impacts on selected wetland/bottomland tree species. Ph.D. dissertation, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, 105p.
Taillie PJ, Moorman CE, Poulter B et al (2019) Decadal-scale vegetation change driven by salinity at leading edge of rising sea level. Ecosystems 22:1918–1930
Ury EA, Yang X, Wright XJP, Bernhardt ES (2021) Rapid deforestation of a coastal landscape driven by sea-level rise and extreme events. Ecol Appl 31:e02339
Wells JT, Kim S-Y (1989) Sedimentation in the Albemarle Pamlico lagoonal system: synthesis and hypotheses. Mar Geol 88:263–284
Acknowledgments
The constructive criticism and suggestions of two anonymous reviewers are gratefully acknowledged.
Funding
No funding was received for this work.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
JDP is 100% responsible for all aspects of this work.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare no competing interests.
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Phillips, J.D. Ghost cypress as indicators of sea-level rise in the Neuse River, North Carolina, USA. Wetlands Ecol Manage 32, 287–302 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11273-024-09977-0
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11273-024-09977-0