A new study finds that climate change may have a range of contrasting effects on coastal forests, both slowing and enabling growth in areas where sea levels are rising and storms are more common. Researchers compared a decade of forest growth data from two types of environments across the mid-Atlantic, southeastern, and Gulf coasts of the United States: coastal areas less than five meters (20 feet) above sea level and inland areas between 30 and 50 meters (more than 100 feet) in elevation. They found that while forests have expanded in both environments in the last 10 years, some coastal areas have seen significantly lower tree growth and higher mortality than areas of higher elevation… Researchers were also surprised to find a positive correlation between forest growth and increased coastal storms… The work is published in the journal PLOS Climate.