Guadua
Encyclopedia
Guadua is a Neotropics genus
of thorny clumping bamboo
, ranging from moderate to very large species. Physically, Guadua angustifolia is noted for being the largest Neotropics bamboo. The genus is similar to Bambusa
and is sometimes included in Bambusa. Several animals are, to a various extent, associated with stands of Guadua bamboo, for example several species of seedeater
s, and the Amazon
and Atlantic Bamboo Rats.
basin. It usually grows at low altitude
s (below 1,500 m), but has been found up to 2,500 m. Its habitat
s include lowland tropical and lower-montane forest, savanna
s, Cerrado
s, gallery forest, and disturbed inter-Andean valley vegetation.
and in coastal Ecuador
.
Guadua angustifolia Kunth, endemic to Latin America
, is slowly becoming well known once again as a building material. Highly appreciated by Simon Bolivar
for its watershed protection and praised by Alexander von Humboldt
for its wide variety of uses, it is being used in construction today in South America.
Most tropical rain forest there has been transformed into pastures and cropland, however, with an accompanying loss of biodiversity
. Technical studies of bamboo's mechanical properties ("vegetable steel
") have increased interest in its use. Although bamboo culms used for building can be harvested in natural forests, over-exploitation leads to the depletion of natural resources. For large-scale use of Guadua angustifolia, the management of sustainable bamboo forests and groves, as well as the establishment of new nurseries and plantations, is a priority.
Tropical bamboo can be propagated with cuttings or by covering complete culms with soil. The next year, new plants will sprout. Or, Guadua can be propagated more rapidly by the chusquin method. Under this method, culms are cut at ground level when harvesting causing many small shoots and new plants to grow around the original plant. This method is suitable for large-scale forests or farm cooperatives. Since bamboo is a grass
, harvesting it down to the soil induces more new shoots to emerge, just like turf grass. This is a phenomenon not known in tropical hardwood forests.
Even more rapid methods have been recently developed through the use of tissue culture. Bamboo propagated in a laboratory in the space of one square meter will be sufficient to establish one hectare of new forest. These plants can also be readily transported in a one-half-cubic-meter box. Harvesting can begin six years after planting, making bamboo a potential source of tropical biomass production for industry (e.g., biofuels). For architectural purposes, Guadua is the preferred bamboo species. Its diameter is constant for the first 15 meters and then tapers at the top. These features have attracted the attention of civil engineers, architects, academics, designers, and artists.
Environmentally, Guadua is more effective at removing carbon dioxide
from the atmosphere than most other tropical forest; ongoing studies in Colombia have now been coordinated by the Environmental Bamboo Foundation. On the basis of such studies, Japan
and the Netherlands
have both undertaken massive forestation projects as a way of earning so-called "carbon credits" to offset industrial pollution.
Recent studies conducted by the European Union
indicate that bamboo has relatively low water requirements and that its root system
is an excellent watershed protector. Depending on humidity
, Guadua contains 15% more BTUs than other fuelwoods and could therefore serve as an alternative fuel for energy. German Fire Authorities tested Guadua and, guided by the European Building Code, approved bamboo as a building material for the Guadua Pavilion at Expo 2000
in Hanover
. A preservation technique, involving the use of non-toxic smoke can prevent bamboo's deterioration for several decades. Bamboo construction is also earthquake-resistant. Recent earthquake
s in Colombia's coffee zone demonstrated this when many houses built in the 1930s survived, while modern houses collapsed. Costa Rica
reported similar experiences in earlier earthquakes there.
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
of thorny clumping bamboo
Bamboo
Bamboo is a group of perennial evergreens in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family....
, ranging from moderate to very large species. Physically, Guadua angustifolia is noted for being the largest Neotropics bamboo. The genus is similar to Bambusa
Bambusa
Bambusa is a large genus of clumping bamboos. These species are usually giant ones, with numerous branches at a node and one or two much larger than the rest...
and is sometimes included in Bambusa. Several animals are, to a various extent, associated with stands of Guadua bamboo, for example several species of seedeater
Seedeater
The seedeaters are a form taxon of seed-eating passerine birds with a distinctively conical bill.Most are Central and South American birds that were formerly placed in the American sparrow family , but are now known to be tanagers closely related to Darwins finches...
s, and the Amazon
Amazon bamboo rat
For Asian bamboo rats , see Bamboo rat.The Amazon bamboo rat is a species of spiny rat from the Amazon Basin of South America. It is also referred to as coro-coro, Toró, Rato-do-Bambú, or Rata del Bambú in different parts of its range...
and Atlantic Bamboo Rats.
Distribution and habitats
The genus is concentrated in the Amazon basin and the OrinocoOrinoco
The Orinoco is one of the longest rivers in South America at . Its drainage basin, sometimes called the Orinoquia, covers , with 76.3% of it in Venezuela and the remainder in Colombia...
basin. It usually grows at low altitude
Altitude
Altitude or height is defined based on the context in which it is used . As a general definition, altitude is a distance measurement, usually in the vertical or "up" direction, between a reference datum and a point or object. The reference datum also often varies according to the context...
s (below 1,500 m), but has been found up to 2,500 m. Its habitat
Habitat (ecology)
A habitat is an ecological or environmental area that is inhabited by a particular species of animal, plant or other type of organism...
s include lowland tropical and lower-montane forest, savanna
Savanna
A savanna, or savannah, is a grassland ecosystem characterized by the trees being sufficiently small or widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to support an unbroken herbaceous layer consisting primarily of C4 grasses.Some...
s, Cerrado
Cerrado
The Cerrado, is a vast tropical savanna ecoregion of Brazil, particularly in the states of Gioas and Minas Gerais...
s, gallery forest, and disturbed inter-Andean valley vegetation.
Human use
From a utilitarian perspective, Guadua is the most important American bamboo. Due to its quality, the genus has been widely used for house construction along the inter-Andean rivers of ColombiaColombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
and in coastal Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
.
Guadua angustifolia Kunth, endemic to Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
, is slowly becoming well known once again as a building material. Highly appreciated by Simon Bolivar
Simón Bolívar
Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios Ponte y Yeiter, commonly known as Simón Bolívar was a Venezuelan military and political leader...
for its watershed protection and praised by Alexander von Humboldt
Alexander von Humboldt
Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander Freiherr von Humboldt was a German naturalist and explorer, and the younger brother of the Prussian minister, philosopher and linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt...
for its wide variety of uses, it is being used in construction today in South America.
Most tropical rain forest there has been transformed into pastures and cropland, however, with an accompanying loss of biodiversity
Biodiversity
Biodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet. Biodiversity is a measure of the health of ecosystems. Biodiversity is in part a function of climate. In terrestrial habitats, tropical regions are typically rich whereas polar regions...
. Technical studies of bamboo's mechanical properties ("vegetable steel
Steel
Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...
") have increased interest in its use. Although bamboo culms used for building can be harvested in natural forests, over-exploitation leads to the depletion of natural resources. For large-scale use of Guadua angustifolia, the management of sustainable bamboo forests and groves, as well as the establishment of new nurseries and plantations, is a priority.
Tropical bamboo can be propagated with cuttings or by covering complete culms with soil. The next year, new plants will sprout. Or, Guadua can be propagated more rapidly by the chusquin method. Under this method, culms are cut at ground level when harvesting causing many small shoots and new plants to grow around the original plant. This method is suitable for large-scale forests or farm cooperatives. Since bamboo is a grass
Grass
Grasses, or more technically graminoids, are monocotyledonous, usually herbaceous plants with narrow leaves growing from the base. They include the "true grasses", of the Poaceae family, as well as the sedges and the rushes . The true grasses include cereals, bamboo and the grasses of lawns ...
, harvesting it down to the soil induces more new shoots to emerge, just like turf grass. This is a phenomenon not known in tropical hardwood forests.
Even more rapid methods have been recently developed through the use of tissue culture. Bamboo propagated in a laboratory in the space of one square meter will be sufficient to establish one hectare of new forest. These plants can also be readily transported in a one-half-cubic-meter box. Harvesting can begin six years after planting, making bamboo a potential source of tropical biomass production for industry (e.g., biofuels). For architectural purposes, Guadua is the preferred bamboo species. Its diameter is constant for the first 15 meters and then tapers at the top. These features have attracted the attention of civil engineers, architects, academics, designers, and artists.
Environmentally, Guadua is more effective at removing carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide is a naturally occurring chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalently bonded to a single carbon atom...
from the atmosphere than most other tropical forest; ongoing studies in Colombia have now been coordinated by the Environmental Bamboo Foundation. On the basis of such studies, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
and the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
have both undertaken massive forestation projects as a way of earning so-called "carbon credits" to offset industrial pollution.
Recent studies conducted by the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
indicate that bamboo has relatively low water requirements and that its root system
Root system
In mathematics, a root system is a configuration of vectors in a Euclidean space satisfying certain geometrical properties. The concept is fundamental in the theory of Lie groups and Lie algebras...
is an excellent watershed protector. Depending on humidity
Humidity
Humidity is a term for the amount of water vapor in the air, and can refer to any one of several measurements of humidity. Formally, humid air is not "moist air" but a mixture of water vapor and other constituents of air, and humidity is defined in terms of the water content of this mixture,...
, Guadua contains 15% more BTUs than other fuelwoods and could therefore serve as an alternative fuel for energy. German Fire Authorities tested Guadua and, guided by the European Building Code, approved bamboo as a building material for the Guadua Pavilion at Expo 2000
Expo 2000
Expo 2000 was a World's Fair held in Hanover, Germany from Thursday, June 1 to Tuesday, October 31, 2000. It was located on the Hanover fairground , which is famous for hosting CeBIT...
in Hanover
Hanover
Hanover or Hannover, on the river Leine, is the capital of the federal state of Lower Saxony , Germany and was once by personal union the family seat of the Hanoverian Kings of Great Britain, under their title as the dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg...
. A preservation technique, involving the use of non-toxic smoke can prevent bamboo's deterioration for several decades. Bamboo construction is also earthquake-resistant. Recent earthquake
Earthquake
An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. The seismicity, seismism or seismic activity of an area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time...
s in Colombia's coffee zone demonstrated this when many houses built in the 1930s survived, while modern houses collapsed. Costa Rica
Costa Rica
Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....
reported similar experiences in earlier earthquakes there.
External links
- Project Guadua Bamboo. Research for sustainable management and markets of bamboo in Colombia and Costa Rica.
- INBAR
- Fundeguadua
- Torre Mirador (Sightseeing Tower). Tower made of Guadua, Coffee National Park, ColombiaColombiaColombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
.