GUANO ISLANDS 1

GEOGRAPHY PROJECT

Prepared By :Piyush Shaw

TOPICS

Introduction History Sourcing Properties Tourism Culture Acknowledgement

Guano (via Spanish), is the excrement of seabirds, cave-dwelling bats, pinnipeds or birds in general.

As a manure, guano is a highly effective fertilizer due to its exceptionally high content of nitrogen phosphate and potassium nutrients essential for plant growth.

The 19th century, Guano trade played a pivotal role in the development of modern farming practices and inspired the formal human colonization of remote bird islands in many parts of the world.

During the twentieth century, Guano-producing birds became an important target of conservation programs and influenced the development of environmental consciousness.

INTRODUCTION

Guano Island

Guano Birds

In November 1802, Alexander von Humboldt was the first European to encounter Guano and began investigating its fertilizing properties at Callao in Peru.

During the 19th century Guano boom, the vast majority of seabird guano was harvested from Peruvian guano islands.

Large quantities were also exported from the Caribbean, in the Central Pacific and islands off the coast of Namibia, Oman, Patagonia, and California. At that time, massive deposits of guano existed on some islands, in some cases more than 50 m deep.

In 1856, the United States passed the Guano Islands Act, which gave U.S. citizens discovering guano on an unclaimed island exclusive rights to the deposits. Nine of these islands are still officially U.S. territories.

HISTORY

SOURCING The ideal type of guano is found in exceptionally dry climates, as

rainwater drains the guano of nitrates. Guano is harvested on various islands in the Pacific Ocean. These islands have been home to mass seabird colonies for many centuries, and the guano has collected to a depth of many metres. In the 19th century, Peru was famous for its supply of Guano.

Bat guano is usually mined in caves. Guano deposits support a great variety of cave-adapted invertebrates, that rely on bat feces as their sole source of nutrition. In addition to the biological component, deep guano deposits in strata have built up over thousands of years.

The greatest damage caused by mining to caves with extensive guano deposits is to the bat colonies. Bats are highly vulnerable to regular disturbance to their roosts.

Some species, which have low fat reserves, starve to death when regularly disturbed and put into a panic state during their resting period. Many species drop pups when in panic, with subsequent death, leading to a steady reduction in population. Research in Jamaica has shown that mining for bat guano is directly related to the loss of bat species, associated invertebrates and fungi, and is the greatest threat to bat caves on the island.

Guano Birds

Guano Birds

PROPERTIESIn Agriculture and Gardening, Guano has a number of uses, which includes :

a. Soil Builder, b. Lawn treatment, c. Fungicide (when fed to plants through the

leaves), d. Nematicide (decomposing microbes help control

nematodes), and ase. Composting activator (nutrients and microbes

speed up decomposition)

Bat Guano

Excrement of seabirds

Excrement of seabirds

TOURISMThe Guano Islands is full of history and biodiversity. Before the invention of synthetic fertilizers, guano from bird droppings was an essential agricultural fertilizer.  Peru was the biggest producer in the world, due to the large nesting bird population of the Humboldt, Current and the arid climate´s ability to preserve the guano. 

After over-exploitation, the government took over & managed guano production for 100 years, monitoring the bird populations and rotating guano extraction through the islands every few years.  In order to augment the population of sea birds, walls were built around isolated capes to restrict access and movement of people near nesting areas.

Joseph Victor von Scheffels 'Guanosong' described the development of the manure in humouristic poetic verses in the middle of the 19th century.

The poem starts with highly sophisticated wording and allegations to Heinric Heines Lorelei and may be sung along the same tunes, as from 1837 by Friedrich Silcher.

The poem ends however with the grunt statement of a Swabian rapeseed farmer, which praises the seagulls, providing better 'birdshit‘.

It has been translated among others by Charles Godfrer Leland

CULTURE

AcknowledgementI wish to thank my Teacher and Parents to have helped me gather information and understand the basics of Guano Islands.

The information on Guano Islands has been taken from the Internet.

Thank You…..