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Guano (from the Quechua
Quechua

Quechua is a Native American language of South America. It was already widely spoken across the Central Andes long before the time of the Inca Empire, who established it as the official language of administration for their Empire, and is still spoken today in various regional forms by some 10 million people through much of South America, in...
 'wanu', via Spanish
Spanish language

Spanish or Castilian is a Romance languages that originated in northern Spain, and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile and evolved into the principal language of government and trade....
) is the excrement (feces
Feces

Feces, faeces, or f?ces is a waste product from an animal's gastrointestinal tract expelled through the anus during defecation....
 and urine
Urine

Urine is a liquid waste product of the body secreted by the kidneys by a process of filtration from blood called urination and excreted through the urethra....
) of seabird
Seabird

Seabirds are birds that have adaptation to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behavior and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same environmental problems and feeding ecological niche have resulted in similar adaptations....
s, bat
Bat

Bats are mammals in the order Chiroptera. The forelimbs of all bats are developed as wings, making them the only mammals naturally capable of sustained flight ....
s, and seals.

Guano manure
Manure

Manure is organic matter used as organic fertilizer in agriculture. Manures contribute to the fertility of the soil by adding organic matter and Nutrient#Nutrients and the environment, such as nitrogen that is trapped by bacterium in the soil....
 is an effective fertilizer
Fertilizer

Fertilizers are chemical compounds given to plants to promote growth; they are usually applied either through the soil, for uptake by plant roots, or by foliar feeding, for uptake through leaves....
 and gunpowder
Gunpowder

Gunpowder, also called black powder, is an explosive mixture of sulfur, charcoal and potassium nitrate, KNO3 that burns rapidly, producing volumes of hot solids and gases which can be used as a propellant in firearms and as a pyrotechnic composition in fireworks....
 ingredient due to its high levels of phosphorus
Phosphorus

Phosphorus is the chemical element that has the symbol P and atomic number 15. The name comes from the and . A Valency nonmetal of the nitrogen group, phosphorus is commonly found in inorganic phosphate minerals....
 and nitrogen
Nitrogen

Nitrogen is a chemical element that has the symbol N and atomic number 7 and atomic mass 14.00674?. Elemental nitrogen is a colorless, odorless, tasteless and mostly inert diatomic gas at standard conditions, constituting 78% by volume of Earth's atmosphere....
 and also its lack of odor.






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Chincha Guano Islands
Guano
Dscn5766 Guano Glantz Crop B
Guano (from the Quechua
Quechua

Quechua is a Native American language of South America. It was already widely spoken across the Central Andes long before the time of the Inca Empire, who established it as the official language of administration for their Empire, and is still spoken today in various regional forms by some 10 million people through much of South America, in...
 'wanu', via Spanish
Spanish language

Spanish or Castilian is a Romance languages that originated in northern Spain, and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile and evolved into the principal language of government and trade....
) is the excrement (feces
Feces

Feces, faeces, or f?ces is a waste product from an animal's gastrointestinal tract expelled through the anus during defecation....
 and urine
Urine

Urine is a liquid waste product of the body secreted by the kidneys by a process of filtration from blood called urination and excreted through the urethra....
) of seabird
Seabird

Seabirds are birds that have adaptation to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behavior and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same environmental problems and feeding ecological niche have resulted in similar adaptations....
s, bat
Bat

Bats are mammals in the order Chiroptera. The forelimbs of all bats are developed as wings, making them the only mammals naturally capable of sustained flight ....
s, and seals.

Guano manure
Manure

Manure is organic matter used as organic fertilizer in agriculture. Manures contribute to the fertility of the soil by adding organic matter and Nutrient#Nutrients and the environment, such as nitrogen that is trapped by bacterium in the soil....
 is an effective fertilizer
Fertilizer

Fertilizers are chemical compounds given to plants to promote growth; they are usually applied either through the soil, for uptake by plant roots, or by foliar feeding, for uptake through leaves....
 and gunpowder
Gunpowder

Gunpowder, also called black powder, is an explosive mixture of sulfur, charcoal and potassium nitrate, KNO3 that burns rapidly, producing volumes of hot solids and gases which can be used as a propellant in firearms and as a pyrotechnic composition in fireworks....
 ingredient due to its high levels of phosphorus
Phosphorus

Phosphorus is the chemical element that has the symbol P and atomic number 15. The name comes from the and . A Valency nonmetal of the nitrogen group, phosphorus is commonly found in inorganic phosphate minerals....
 and nitrogen
Nitrogen

Nitrogen is a chemical element that has the symbol N and atomic number 7 and atomic mass 14.00674?. Elemental nitrogen is a colorless, odorless, tasteless and mostly inert diatomic gas at standard conditions, constituting 78% by volume of Earth's atmosphere....
 and also its lack of odor. Superphosphate
Superphosphate

Superphosphate is a fertilizer produced by the action of concentrated sulfuric acid on powdered phosphate rock....
 made from guano is used for aerial topdressing. Soil
Soil

Soil is the naturally occurring, unconsolidated or loose covering on the Earth's surface. Soil is composed of particles of broken rock that have been altered by chemical and environmental processes including weathering and erosion....
 that is deficient in organic matter can be made more productive by addition of this manure.

Usage

Guano consists of ammonia
Ammonia

Ammonia is a chemical compound with the chemical formula nitrogenhydrogen. It is normally encountered as a gas with a characteristic pungent odor....
, along with uric
Uric acid

Uric acid is an organic compound of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and hydrogen with the formula C5H4N4O3....
, phosphoric
Phosphoric acid

Phosphoric acid, also known as orthophosphoric acid or phosphoric acid, is a mineral acid having the chemical formula Hydrogen3PhosphorusOxygen4....
, oxalic
Oxalic acid

Oxalic acid is the chemical compound with the chemical formula H2C2O4. This dicarboxylic acid is better described with the formula HOOCCOOH....
, and carbonic acid
Carbonic acid

Carbonic acid has the Molecular formula H2CO3. It is also a name sometimes given to solutions of carbon dioxide in water , which contain small amounts of H2CO3....
s, as well as some earth salts and impurities. Guano also has a high concentration of nitrates.

Currently vast volumes of phosphorus are needed to produce fertilizer
Fertilizer

Fertilizers are chemical compounds given to plants to promote growth; they are usually applied either through the soil, for uptake by plant roots, or by foliar feeding, for uptake through leaves....
, as it is an essential plant macronutrient. Guano is rich in phosphorus and is an effective phosphorus fertilizer.

History

The word "guano" originates from the Quichua language of the Inca
Inca

The Inca civilization began as a tribe in the Cuzco area, where the legendary first Sapa Inca, Manco Capac founded the Kingdom of Cuzco around 1200....
 civilization and means "the droppings of sea birds". Incas collected guano from the coast of Peru
Peru

Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
 for use as soil enricher. The Incas assigned great value to guano, restricting access to it and punishing any disturbance to the birds with death.

Guano has been harvested over several centuries along the coast of Peru, where islands and rocky shores have been sheltered from humans and predators. The Guanay Cormorant
Guanay Cormorant

The Guanay Cormorant or Guanay Shag,Phalacrocorax bougainvillii, is a member of the cormorant family found in South America. It is a resident bird living on the Pacific coast of Peru and northern Chile....
 has historically been the most important producer of guano; its guano is richer in nitrogen than guano from other seabirds. Other important guano producing species off the coast of Peru are the Peruvian Pelican
Peruvian Pelican

The Peruvian Pelican, Pelecanus thagus, is a member of the pelican family. It lives on the west coast of South America, from Lobos de Tierra Island in Peru to Pupuya Islet in Chile....
 and the Peruvian Booby
Peruvian Booby

The Peruvian Booby, Sula variegata, is an endemism bird of the Peruvian current whose distribution is restricted to the west coast of South America from Punta Pari?as in Peru to Concepci?n, Chile in Chile ....
.

The high concentration of nitrates also made guano an important strategic
Military strategy

Military strategy is a policy implemented by military organizations to pursue desired Strategic goal s. Derived from the Greek language strategos, strategy when it appeared in use during the 18th century, was seen in its narrow sense as the "art of the general", 'the art of arrangement' of troops....
 commodity. The War of the Pacific
War of the Pacific

The War of the Pacific, occurring from 1879-1883, was a conflict between Chile and the joint forces of Bolivia and Peru. Also known as the "Sodium nitrate War", the war arose from disputes over the control of territory that contained substantial mineral-rich deposits....
 (1879 to 1883) between the Peru
Peru

Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
-Bolivia
Bolivia

The Republic of Bolivia , named after Sim?n Bol?var, is a landlocked country in central South America. It is bordered by Brazil on the north and east, Paraguay and Argentina on the south, and Chile and Peru on the west....
 alliance and Chile
Chile

Chile, officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long and narrow coastal strip wedged between the Andes mountains and the Pacific Ocean....
 was primarily based upon Bolivia's attempt to tax Chilean guano harvesters and over control of a part of the Atacama desert that lies between the 23rd and 26th parallels on the Pacific coast. The discovery during the 1840s of the use of guano as a fertilizer
Fertilizer

Fertilizers are chemical compounds given to plants to promote growth; they are usually applied either through the soil, for uptake by plant roots, or by foliar feeding, for uptake through leaves....
 and saltpeter
Saltpeter

Saltpeter or saltpetre may refer to:*Potassium nitrate, the critical oxidizing component of gun powder*Sodium nitrate , an ingredient in fertilizers, explosives and solid rocket propellants...
 as a key ingredient in explosives made the area strategically valuable.

In this context the US passed the Guano Islands Act
Guano Islands Act

The Guano Islands Act is List of United States federal legislation passed by the Congress of the United States, on August 18, 1856. It enables citizens of the United States to take possession of islands containing guano deposits....
 in 1856 giving citizens discovering a source of guano the right to take possession of unclaimed land and entitlement to exclusive rights to the deposits. However, the guano could only be removed for the use by citizens of the United States. This enabled US citizens to take possession of unoccupied islands containing guano.

By the end of the 19th Century, the importance of guano declined with the rise of artificial fertiliser, although guano is still used by organic
Organic

Organic may refer to:* Organism, a living entity.* Organ , of or relating to a bodily organ.Life:*LifeMaterials and substances:...
 gardeners and farmers.

Sourcing

The ideal type of guano is found in exceptionally dry climates, as rainwater drains the guano of nitrates. Guano is harvested on various island
Island

An island or isle is any piece of land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls are called islets....
s in the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. Its name is derived from the Latin name Mare Pacificum, "peaceful sea", bestowed upon it by the Portugal explorer Ferdinand Magellan....
 (for example, the Chincha Islands
Chincha Islands

The Chincha Islands are a group of three small islands 21 km off the southwest coast of Peru, to which they belong, near the town of Pisco, Peru, ....
) and in other oceans (for example, Juan de Nova Island
Juan de Nova Island

Juan de Nova Island is a 4.4 km? low, flat, tropical island in the narrowest part of the Mozambique Channel, about one-third of the way between Madagascar and Mozambique at ....
 and Christmas Island
Christmas Island

The Territory of Christmas Island is a Territory of Australia in the Indian Ocean. It is located northwest of the Western Australian city of Perth, Western Australia, south of the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, and ENE of the Cocos Islands....
). These islands have been home to mass seabird colonies for many centuries, and the guano has collected to a depth of many metre
Metre

The metre or meter is a Unit of measurement of length. It is the SI base unit of length in the metric system and in the International System of Units , used around the world for general and scientific purposes....
s. In the 19th century, Peru was famous for its supply of guano.

Bat guano is usually mined in caves and is associated with a corresponding loss of troglobytic
Troglobite

A troglobite is an animal that lives entirely in the dark parts of caves. Such creatures have become specifically adapted for life in total darkness and over time they have evolved to develop improved senses of smell, taste and vibration detection, while losing anatomical features that are superfluous without light, such as functioning eyes...
 biota
Biota (ecology)

Biota is the total collection of organisms of a geographic region or a time period, from local geographic scales and instantaneous temporal scales all the way up to whole-planet and whole-timescale spatiotemporal scales....
 and diminishing of biodiversity
Biodiversity

Biodiversity is the variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or for the entire Earth. Biodiversity is often used as a measure of the health of biological systems....
. Guano deposits support a great variety of cave-adapted invertebrate species, which rely on bat faeces as their sole nutrient input. In addition to the biological component, deep guano deposits contain local paleoclimatic
Paleoclimatology

Paleoclimatology is the study of climate change taken on the scale of the entire history of Earth. It uses records from ice sheets, tree rings, sediment, and rock s to determine the past state of the climate system on Earth....
 records in strata that have built up over thousand of years, which are unrecoverable once disturbed.

The greatest damage caused by mining to caves with extant guano deposits is to the bat colonies themselves. Bats are highly vulnerable to regular disturbance to their roosts. Some species, such as Phyllonycteris aphylla
Jamaican Flower Bat

The Jamaican Flower Bat is a species of bat in the Phyllostomidae family. It is Endemism to Jamaica....
, have low fat reserves, and will starve to death when regularly disturbed and put into a panic state during their resting period. Many species will 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.

Properties

In agriculture
Agriculture

Agriculture refers to the production of food and goods through farming and forestry. Agriculture was the key development that led to the rise of civilization, with the animal husbandry of domestication animals and plants creating food surpluses that enabled the development of more Population density and Social stratification societies....
 and gardening guano has a number of uses, including as: Soil builder, lawn treatment, fungicide
Fungicide

Fungicides are chemical compounds or biological organisms used to kill or inhibit fungus or fungal spores. Fungi can cause serious damage in agriculture, resulting in critical losses of Crop yield, quality and profit....
 (when fed to plants through the leaves), nematocide (decomposing microbes help control nematodes), and as compost
Compost

Compost , sometimes known as brown manure, is the end result of controlled aerobic decomposition of organic matter known as composting. It is used in landscaping, horticulture and agriculture as a soil conditioner and fertilizer to add vital humus or humic acids....
 activator (microbes speed up decomposition).

See also

  • Guano Islands Act
    Guano Islands Act

    The Guano Islands Act is List of United States federal legislation passed by the Congress of the United States, on August 18, 1856. It enables citizens of the United States to take possession of islands containing guano deposits....
  • Feces
    Feces

    Feces, faeces, or f?ces is a waste product from an animal's gastrointestinal tract expelled through the anus during defecation....
  • Economy of Nauru
    Economy of Nauru

    Economic Overview Revenues of this tiny island have traditionally come from exports of phosphate rock. Primary phosphate reserves were exhausted, and mining ceased, but in 2006-07, mining of a deeper layer of "secondary phosphate" began....
  • Phosphate rock
    Phosphate rock

    Phosphate rock or phosphorite is a general description applied to several kinds of rock which contain significant concentrations of phosphate minerals, which are minerals that contain the phosphate ion in their chemical structure....


External links