Written by West
The idea of using food waste to encourage plant growth is hardly a new one, people have been composting for years, but a recent study posted in Restoration Ecology shows the kind of dramatic results that bringing this idea to a bigger scale can create. Back in the 1990s ecologists Daniel Janzen and Winne Hallwachs worked at the Area de Conservación Guanacaste, a world heritage site and national park in Costa Rica. As part of an experiment, they made an agreement with orange juice manufacturer Del Oro that the company could dump their orange waste on an area of degraded land in the national park if Del Oro would donate some of their own land to the national park. A deal was struck, and after removing the oils and acids from the orange waste it was dumped in the area.
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Written by West
If you've spent some time in the countryside you've most likely come across a ghost pond without realising it. A damp patch of land in a dry field, or a spot where the crops never grow quite as well. They're usually made by farmers who filled ponds with chopped hedgerows and soil instead of draining them
Written by West
Clathrus archeri - Octopus Stinkhorn
Image: A photograph of Clathrus archeri, a fungus with red octopus-like tentacles. Source: Steveb68 on Wikicommons
Originating from Australia these fungi have spread to Europe, North America and Asia, and can occasionally be found in the UK. They can be first noticed above ground in their "egg" form, already looking like something that's going to hatch into a horror movie monster.
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