Re-peeling the effects of degradation: low-tech application of orange crop waste shows potential to restore tropical forests
Researchers have come upon a new low-tech tropical forest restoration strategy, beginning with agricultural waste. They studied the effects on soil and forest health of the purposeful deposition of tons of processed orange peels and pulp on centuries-old rangeland remaining inside Guanacaste National Park in Costa Rica. In their study, published this week in the journal Restoration Ecology, they found three times the number and diversity of forest trees, a 176% greater aboveground woody tree biomass, and a dramatic increase in soil nutrients where the agrowaste had been applied, compared to an adjacent control site.
