Ghost Rainforests: Could Rewilding Bring Ancient Jungles Back to Life?

The Eerie Reality of Dying Forests

A ghost forest is a stand of dead and decaying trees, an eerie sight that serves as a dramatic warning of a growing problem within the global ecosystem. What makes these forests particularly unsettling isn't just their appearance - it's how quickly they emerge. Between 1985 and 2019, more than 10 percent of the area's tree cover became ghost forest in North Carolina's coastal regions alone. These trees don't just die and disappear overnight. A tree can stay standing for a decade or longer after its death, which is part of what lends ghost forests their spooky appearance. The process is like watching nature in slow motion reverse, as centuries-old ecosystems gradually surrender to rising seas and changing climates. Ghost forests are emerging in areas that have been forested for hundreds or, in some cases, even thousands of years. One ghost forest that formed recently in North Carolina contained a root system that dated to 1,800 years ago.

When Salt Water Meets Fresh Water Magic Dies

The mechanism behind ghost forest formation is both simple and devastating. Ghost forests form when the ocean rises and floods coastal lands, a phenomenon generated by rising sea levels or by tsunamis. When salty ocean water meets and mixes with fresh water, it forms pools of brackish marshy water. The salt content in this water is too high for most trees to tolerate, and it poisons them. Think of it like forcing a freshwater fish to live in the ocean - the chemistry just doesn't work. Trees that evolved over millennia to thrive in specific conditions suddenly find themselves drowning in an environment they can't adapt to quickly enough. The transformation happens gradually but relentlessly, like watching paint dry, except what's dying is an entire ecosystem. Over the course of a few decades, this exposure to seawater can cause hundreds of acres of previously healthy forest to die.

The Ancient Forests That Once Dominated Earth

To understand what we're losing, we need to look back - way back. Their team has uncovered Earth's oldest known forest outside Cairo, New York, as detailed today in the journal Current Biology. At 385 million years old, the ancient woodland predates the rise of seed-producing plants, a group that includes almost all living trees. These prehistoric forests were radically different from anything we see today. They formed the first forests and played a key role in absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. They also added oxygen to the atmosphere, affecting the climate and influencing conditions that fostered the emergence of other life forms. Imagine forests where trees grew by literally splitting themselves apart to get bigger - "It's crazy that the oldest trees also had the most complex growth strategy," according to researchers studying these ancient giants. These weren't your backyard oak trees - they were evolutionary experiments that fundamentally changed our planet's atmosphere and climate.

The Revolutionary Root Systems That Changed Everything

The discovery of ancient root systems has completely flipped our understanding of early forests. They looked, in other words, "strikingly modern, essentially what you'd see outside in my yard right now," says lead author William Stein, a paleobotanist at Binghamton University. But separating the fossils from Stein's neighborhood spruces is an evolutionary chasm of about 385 million years. These roots weren't just anchoring trees - they were terraforming the planet. Trees like those at Cairo had a big effect on the ancient climate. Deep roots penetrate and break up the rocks within and below the soil. Geologists call this processing "weathering," and it triggers chemical reactions that pull CO2 from the atmosphere and turn it into carbonate ions in groundwater. Picture ancient trees as massive atmospheric vacuum cleaners, sucking carbon out of the air and fundamentally altering Earth's climate system. Partly because of weathering and its knock-on effects, atmospheric CO2 levels dropped to modern levels soon after the appearance of woody forests. A few tens of millions of years earlier they had been 10 to 15 times higher than today.

How Ancient Forests Created the World We Know

The impact of these early forests was nothing short of revolutionary. Some research suggests the removal of so much atmospheric CO2 led directly to a sustained rise in oxygen levels, with the atmosphere containing about 35% oxygen by 300 million years ago. This, in turn, may have led to the evolution of gigantic insects at that time, some with wing spans of 70 centimeters, which may have lived in the ancient forests. Can you imagine dragonflies the size of hawks buzzing through prehistoric canopies? These weren't just trees growing in the ground - they were reshaping the entire planet's biological and atmospheric systems. "Drained of carbon dioxide, the atmosphere cooled dramatically, likely helping to plunge the globe into a prolonged period of glaciation. Several branches of the tree of life fizzled out, while other species moved onto land and diversified. The arrival of these forests was the creation of the modern world." Every breath you take today exists because ancient forests fundamentally altered our planet's atmosphere millions of years ago.

The Science Behind Bringing Forests Back to Life

Modern rewilding isn't just about planting trees - it's about understanding how ecosystems work at their deepest levels. When it comes to reforestation, planting a diversity of tree species could have a plethora of positive effects on forest health and resilience, climate mitigation and biodiversity. That's based on research from the world's largest tree-planting experiment, in China, and one of the world's longest-running tropical forest planting experiments, in Panama. Scientists have discovered that diversity isn't just nice to have - it's essential for forest survival. Another study from the BEF-China project found that diverse planted forests offer an effective buffer against climate stress because they grow more consistently. Think of diverse forests like a well-balanced investment portfolio - when one species struggles, others can pick up the slack. A rewilding approach "is necessary to address biodiversity loss, climate change, and habitat fragmentation by making forests more ecologically resilient and better able to store carbon and sustain wildlife." The science is clear: if we want to bring ancient jungles back to life, we need to think like nature - complex, diverse, and interconnected.

Iceland's Ambitious Desert-to-Forest Transformation

Sometimes the most inspiring rewilding stories come from the most unlikely places. When settlers, most likely from Norway, came to Iceland for the first time around the 9th century, they were greeted with a familiar landscape. Birch forests stretched out across the lowlands, making this isolated, remote island seem like home. In 2022, more than one thousand years after settlers first stepped foot on Iceland, those lush birch forests have almost entirely disappeared, leaving behind a landscape of vast dese But Iceland isn't giving up. The rewilding started just over a century ago, but has gotten a boost in the last three decades. Today over 3,000 square kilometres of land has been restored, or are in the process of being restored. However, there are still over 40,000 square kilometres of barren, deserted land. Picture walking across what looks like a Martian landscape, then suddenly spotting tiny green birch saplings pushing through black volcanic sand - that's Iceland's rewilding story in action. The finish line to stopping desertification is nowhere in sight, but Icelandic experts have found that continuously rewilding the deserts, or restoring the ecosystems, is the best chance they've got.

The Yellowstone Wolf Miracle That Changed Everything

No discussion of rewilding would be complete without mentioning one of the most famous success stories in conservation history. In 1995, just 14 wolves were rewilded in Yellowstone, and their impact was immediate. This wasn't just about bringing back a single species - it was about restoring an entire ecosystem's balance. In 1926, the last wolf pack in Yellowstone was eliminated by park employees as part of a policy to eradicate all predators, leading to an imbalance in the entire ecosystem. Elk populations surged, resulting in the overgrazing of willows and aspens. This loss of trees led to a decline in songbirds and the inability of beavers to build dams due to eroding riverbanks. Water temperatures also rose, which impacted cold-water fish. The return of wolves triggered what scientists call a "trophic cascade" - a domino effect that rippled through the entire ecosystem. Rivers literally changed course as vegetation returned to riverbanks, providing one of the most dramatic examples of how keystone species can resurrect entire landscapes. The lesson is profound: sometimes bringing back just one missing piece can restore an entire natural puzzle.

The UK's Hidden Temperate Rainforests

Most people think of rainforests as tropical, but hidden throughout the UK are fragments of something equally magical - temperate rainforests. Pockets of temperate rainforest — also known as Celtic rainforest — can be found dotted along the west of the UK. Flora like this, in such abundance, is a telltale sign that this is no ordinary woodland — it's a temperate rainforest. Cloaking land in regions typically under the influence of the ocean, the high rainfall and humidity that's special to these forests have helped a rich biodiversity to bloom in every corner, from branch to boulder. These aren't massive Amazon-style jungles, but intimate, mystical woodlands where "wisps of greyish-green lichen hang overhead, while epiphyte plants cling precariously to birch branches. Moss-speckled stones carpet the forest floor, while ferns festoon the whole scene." Current rewilding projects are working to expand these magical fragments. Volunteers can lend a hand to their Thousand Year Project: a rewilding plan, which aims to triple the size of the forest that exists within Cabilla's boundary. Species monitoring, oak tree planting, seeding and pruning are just some of the activities that you can get involved with.

Scotland's Caledonian Forest Renaissance

Scotland's rewilding story is particularly compelling because it's happening on such a massive scale. Although it was once one contiguous rainforest, today it exists in 35 separate fragments, stretching over 44,000 acres in Scotland. Many of its sites are easily accessed, including at RSPB Glenborrodale, home to more than 200 species of flora and fauna. The transformation is being documented in real-time through innovative sound recording. Dundreggan is the charity's flagship regeneration site, and is gaining international recognition for its biodiversity. More than 3,000 species have been discovered on the site, including 10 found nowhere else in the UK. Imagine walking through forests where new species are still being discovered - that's the power of rewilding in action. Sound recordings created on the Knepp estate by Hazel Reeves since 2021 have captured the successes of this rewilding story – recording the ever increasing biodiversity of the estate, especially birds. As former agricultural fields become thorny scrub, a habitat that is now largely absent from the surrounding landscapes, a nesting habitat is provided for a remarkable number of different bird species including nightingales, turtle doves and whitethroats. And the rich and functioning ecosystems are recorded through sound.

The Unexpected Urban Wildlife Renaissance

One of the most surprising rewilding success stories is happening right under our noses in cities. In "Urban Jungle: The History and Future of Nature in the City," Ben Wilson points out that Chicago's raccoons have more offspring and are healthier than their country cousins. Foxes, raccoons and coyotes live in greater densities in American cities than they do in rural areas. Bjorgaas reports that seagulls in the northern Norwegian islands are near extinction, but great clouds of the endangered gulls mass in Oslo. Cities are becoming unexpected havens for wildlife, creating opportunities for rewilding in places we'd never expect. A study in Melbourne published this month confirms a fundamental principle: Replacing non-native turf in our yards with native plants can reverse the decline in native insects and the birds that depend on them. Replacing non-native lawn and two non-native trees with 12 native plant species yielded steady increases in biodiversity over four years, reaching 7.3 times more insect species on the native plants than on the baseline non-native plants. Our findings therefore demonstrate that large ecological changes may be derived from investing in small urban greening actions. Even something as simple as replacing your lawn with native plants can contribute to bringing ecosystems back to life.

Costa Rica's Cloud Forest Resurrection

One of the most inspiring rewilding stories comes from Costa Rica's cloud forests, where a couple's determination created something extraordinary. Started by a couple who bought degraded farmland bordering cloud forest, Cloudbridge Nature Preserve has restored 700 acres by creating their own nursery from old growth seeds on the property. The unique species in such ecosystems are especially vulnerable to habitat loss. Started by a couple who bought degraded farmland bordering cloud forest, Cloudbridge Nature Preserve has restored 700 acres by creating their own nursery from old growth seeds on the property. The transformation was so successful that it attracted back species that hadn't been seen in the area for years. Now tapirs are back, along with all five indigenous wild cats and 305 bird species — a 60-fold increase in bird diversity. This project shows how rewilding can bring back not just trees, but entire webs of life that seemed lost forever. The key was using seeds from the original old-growth forest, ensuring genetic continuity between past and present ecosystems.

The Serengeti's Wildebeest Comeback That Saved an Ecosystem

Sometimes rewilding means bringing back the animals that make forests possible. Often held up as one of the greatest conservation success stories of recent times, the restoration of the blue wildebeest population in the Serengeti has helped to revive and rebalance a degraded ecosystem. It has also become a key example of how rewilding can help combat climate change, transforming the region from a net emitter of greenhouse gases into a major carbon sink. The wildebeest aren't just pretty animals wandering around - they're ecosystem engineers. Blue wildebeest, thought to have once numbered well over a million in the Serengeti, are vital to maintaining biodiversity and a functioning local ecosystem. On their travels across the landscape, they graze on grasses and then move on, preventing any single area from being overgrazed. Their droppings enrich the soil with essential nutrients and support plant growth and the overall health of the grasslands, benefiting a wide range of other organisms, from insects to small mammals and birds. This restoration shows how bringing back key species can resurrect entire landscapes, creating ripple effects that restore forests and grasslands alike.

Beaver Engineering: Nature's Original Ecosystem Architects

If there's one species that deserves the title "ecosystem engineer," it's the beaver. One such effort is the rewilding initiative at Knapdale Forest in Scotland, where, between May 2009 and June 2010, 16 beavers were released into the wild as part of the Scottish Beaver Trial. Knapdale Forest has since become a living example of how the reintroduction of beavers can transform landscapes and benefit ecosystems. Over the years, these creatures – not for nothing known as "ecosystem engineers" – have created a network of dams, ponds and wetlands that provide habitat for a range of species, including amphibians, waterfowl and insects, as well as helping to regulate water flow, reducing the risk of downstream flooding. Beavers don't just build dams - they create entire wetland ecosystems that can support forest regeneration around their edges. Their work creates the perfect conditions for trees to establish, making them crucial partners in forest rewilding efforts. The success in Scotland has been so dramatic that beavers are now legally protected and spreading naturally to new areas, each family creating new opportunities for forest restoration.

Thailand's Forest Restoration Revolution

Thailand's Forest Restoration Revolution serves as a powerful example of how communities can transform the damage caused by agricultural practices into successful forest restoration efforts. Faced with severe deforestation due to decades of farming, logging, and land clearing, Thai communities, in collaboration with the government and environmental organizations, have implemented innovative reforestation programs that not only revive native ecosystems but also support local livelihoods. These initiatives often involve villagers in planting native tree species, protecting watersheds, and managing resources sustainably, proving that with the right policies and grassroots involvement, it is possible to reverse environmental degradation and restore natural landscapes for future generations.