作为废弃物的橘子皮竟然能将荒林培育成沃土，这也许将成为保护地球生态环境的新思路。
科学美国人60秒：A Fruitful Experiment in Land Conservation
橘子皮在土地保护方面的一个神奇作用
燕山大学 刘立军 宋崴 编写
◆TRANSCRIPT
In the fight to conserve tropical rainforests, here's a tool you don't often hear about: orange peels. Specifically, 12,000 tons of them, dumped on the land. "You don't usually associate waste disposal with biodiversity benefits, something that's good for the environment."
Tim Treuer is an ecologist at Princeton University, and he's talking about a unique conservation story. It started in the early 1990s, when an orange juice producer called Del Oro set up shop near the Guanacaste Conservation Area in Costa Rica, a region that contains several national parks and a wildlife refuge.
Del Oro needed somewhere to dump their orange peels, and the company also owned forested land abutting the parkland that it had no intention of cultivating. So a deal was struck: if Del Oro donated its forested land, it could dump orange peel waste on degraded pastureland within the conservation area.
A thousand dump trucks' worth of orange peels were scattered on the land in 1998. "And within about six months the orange peels had been converted from orange peels into this thick black loamy soil."
The result of that influx of nutrient-rich organic material? "I couldn't even find the site the first time I saw it." He couldn't find it because, over 16 years, the orange-peel waste had sent the land on a journey to become vine-choked jungle. Jungle with three times the diversity of tree species of the adjacent control plot, richer soil and a much denser canopy. In other words, the experiment was a success. The results appear in the journal Restoration Ecology.
Treuer says perhaps this lesson could be applied elsewhere. "It's a shame where we live in a world with nutrient-limited degraded ecosystems and also nutrient-rich waste streams. We'd like to see those things come together a little bit. That's not license for any agricultural company to just start dumping their waste products on protected areas, but it does mean that land managers, restorationists, people involved with industrial-scale agricultural operations should start thinking about ways to do thoughtful experimentation to see if in their particular system they can have similar win-win-win results."
That's actually "win-win-win" - a win for the company, a win for the protected area, and because the jungle packs away CO2, a win for the planet, too.
Adapted from 橘子皮的神奇作用
◆VOCABULARY
1. biodiversity n. (不可数名词) the existence of a large number of different kinds of animals and plants which make a balanced environment 生物多样性（维持着生态环境平衡的大量各种生物的共存）
2. abut v. abut (on/onto) sth. (formal) (of land or a building 土地或建筑物) to be next to sth. or to have one side touching the side of sth. 邻接；毗连；紧靠
3. pastureland n. (不可数名词, 复数) ( also pasturage (不可数名词)) land where animals can feed on grass 牧场；牧草地
4. loam n. (不可数名词)(technical 术语) good quality soil containing sand, clay and decayed vegetable matter 壤土；肥土；沃土
5. canopy n. a layer of sth. that spreads over an area like a roof, especially branches of trees in a forest 顶篷；天篷；（尤指森林里）天篷似的树荫
◆QUESTIONS
Read the passage. Then listen to the news and fill in the blanks with the words you hear.
In the fight to conserve tropical rainforests, here's a tool you don't often hear about: (1) _________________. Specifically, 12,000 tons of them, dumped on the land. "You don't usually associate waste disposal with biodiversity benefits, something that's good for the environment."
Tim Treuer is an (2) _________________________at Princeton University, and he’s talking about a unique conservation story. It started in the early 1990s, when an orange juice producer called Del Oro set up shop near the Guanacaste Conservation Area in Costa Rica, a region that contains several (3) __________________________ and a (4) _____________________________.
Del Oro needed somewhere to (5) _____________________ their orange peels, and the company also owned forested land abutting the parkland that it had no intention of (6) _________________. So a deal was struck: if Del Oro donated its forested land, it could dump orange peel waste on degraded pastureland within the (7) _________________________ area.
A thousand dump trucks' worth of orange peels were scattered on the land in 1998. "And within about six months the orange peels had been converted from orange peels into this thick black loamy soil."
The result of that influx of nutrient-rich organic material? "I couldn't even find the site the first time I saw it." He couldn't find it because, over 16 years, the orange-peel waste had sent the land on a journey to become vine-choked (8) ___________________. Jungle with three times the diversity of tree species of the adjacent control plot, richer soil and a much denser canopy. In other words, the experiment was a (9) _______________________. The results appear in the journal Restoration Ecology.
Treuer says perhaps this lesson could be (10) _______________________elsewhere. "It's a shame where we live in a world with nutrient-limited degraded ecosystems and also nutrient-rich waste streams. We'd like to see those things come together a little bit. That's not license for any agricultural company to just start dumping their waste products on protected areas, but it does mean that land managers, (11) _________________________, people involved with industrial-scale agricultural operations should start thinking about ways to do thoughtful (12) _________________________ to see if in their particular system they can have similar win-win-win results."
That's actually "win-win-win" - a win for the (13) _____________________________, a win for the (14) ______________________, and because the jungle packs away CO2, a win for the (15) _______________________, too.
◆KEY
In the fight to conserve tropical rainforests, here's a tool you don't often hear about: (1) orange peels. Specifically, 12,000 tons of them, dumped on the land. "You don't usually associate waste disposal with biodiversity benefits, something that's good for the environment."
Tim Treuer is an (2) ecologist at Princeton University, and he’s talking about a unique conservation story. It started in the early 1990s, when an orange juice producer called Del Oro set up shop near the Guanacaste Conservation Area in Costa Rica, a region that contains several (3) national parks and a (4) wildlife refuge.
Del Oro needed somewhere to (5) dump their orange peels, and the company also owned forested land abutting the parkland that it had no intention of (6) cultivating. So a deal was struck: if Del Oro donated its forested land, it could dump orange peel waste on degraded pastureland within the (7) conservation area.
A thousand dump trucks' worth of orange peels were scattered on the land in 1998. "And within about six months the orange peels had been converted from orange peels into this thick black loamy soil."
The result of that influx of nutrient-rich organic material? "I couldn't even find the site the first time I saw it." He couldn't find it because, over 16 years, the orange-peel waste had sent the land on a journey to become vine-choked (8) jungle. Jungle with three times the diversity of tree species of the adjacent control plot, richer soil and a much denser canopy. In other words, the experiment was a (9) success. The results appear in the journal Restoration Ecology.
Treuer says perhaps this lesson could be (10) applied elsewhere. "It's a shame where we live in a world with nutrient-limited degraded ecosystems and also nutrient-rich waste streams. We'd like to see those things come together a little bit. That's not license for any agricultural company to just start dumping their waste products on protected areas, but it does mean that land managers, (11) restorationists, people involved with industrial-scale agricultural operations should start thinking about ways to do thoughtful (12) experimentation to see if in their particular system they can have similar win-win-win results."
That's actually "win-win-win" - a win for the (13)company, a win for the (14) protected area, and because the jungle packs away CO2, a win for the (15) planet, too.