This study illustrates how ecosystem restoration enhances biodiversity and productivity. A one-time application in 1998 of 1,000 truckloads of agricultural waste (orange peels) to 3 ha of degraded pasture accelerated tropical forest regeneration in this Costa Rica study. The treatment led to a tripling in species richness (24 tree species from 20 families, compared to 8 tree species from 7 families in the control plot), and 176% increase in aboveground biomass after 16 years, and without any human input after the original orange waste treatment of that site. The thick layer of orange peels suppressed existing non-native pasture grasses and added macro- and micronutrients to the soil, ultimately allowing for the natural (unmanaged) repopulating of the treated area from adjacent forest seedstock.
Our results provide nuance and detail to what was overwhelmingly obvious during informal surveys in 1999 and 2003: depositing orange waste on this degraded and abandoned pastureland greatly accelerated the return of tropical forest, as measured by lasting increases in soil nutrient availability, tree biomass, tree species richness, and canopy closure. The clear implication is that deposition of agricultural waste could serve as a tool for effective, low-cost tropical forest restoration, with a particularly important potential role at low-fertility sites [Treuer 2017: 6].
A one-time application in 1998 of 1,000 truckloads of agricultural waste (orange peels) to 3 ha of degraded pasture accelerated tropical forest regeneration in this Costa Rica study. The treatment led to a tripling in species richness (24 tree species from 20 families, compared to 8 tree species from 7 families in the control plot), and 176% increase in aboveground biomass after 16 years [Treuer 2017]. |
Treuer, Timothy, et al, 2017, Low-cost agricultural waste accelerates tropical forest regeneration, Restoration Ecology, http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/rec.12565/full