Wednesday, April 9, 2025

Orange peel dump site spawns rich biodiversity

In 1997, ecologists Daniel Janzen and Winnie Hallwachs approached an orange juice company in Costa Rica with an off-the-wall idea. In exchange for donating a portion of unspoiled, forested land ...the park would allow the company to dump its discarded orange peels and pulp, free of charge, in a heavily grazed, largely deforested area nearby...offloading over 12,000 metric tons of sticky, mealy, orange compost onto the worn-out plot...16 years later...the experiment resulted in a "176 percent increase in aboveground biomass...Compared to the adjacent plot, which was dominated by a single species of tree, the site of the orange peel deposit featured two dozen species of vegetation, most thriving...greater biodiversity, richer soil, and a better-developed canopy" 

https://www.upworthy.com/juice-company-orange-peel-national-forest-ex1


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