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Guano (Spanish from wanu) is the accumulated excrement of seabirds or bats. Guano is a highly effective fertilizer due to the high content of nitrogen, phosphate, and potassium, all key nutrients essential for plant growth. Guano was also, to a lesser extent, sought for the production of gunpowder and other explosive materials. The 19th-century seabird guano trade played a pivotal role in the development of modern input-intensive farming. The demand for guano spurred the human colonization of remote bird islands in many parts of the world. Unsustainable seabird guano mining processes can result in permanent habitat destruction and the loss of millions of seabirds. Bat guano is found in caves throughout the world. Many cave ecosystems are wholly dependent on bats to provide nutrients via their guano which supports bacteria, fungi, invertebrates, and vertebrates. The loss of bats from a cave can result in the extinction of species that rely on their guano. Unsustainable harvesting of bat guano may cause bats to abandon their roost. Demand for guano rapidly declined after 1910 with the development of the Haber–Bosch process for extracting nitrogen from the atmosphere. Seabird guano is the fecal excrement from marine birds and has an organic matter content greater than 40%, is a source of nitrogen (N) and available phosphate (P2O5). Seabird guano contains plant nutrients including nitrogen, phosphorus, calcium and potassium. Bat guano is partially decomposed bat excrement and has an organic matter content greater than 40%, is a source of nitrogen, and may contain up to 6% available phosphate (P2O5). The feces of insectivorous bats consists of fine particles of insect exoskeleton, which are largely composed of chitin. Elements found in large concentrations include nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and trace elements needed for plant growth. Bat guano is slightly alkaline with an average pH of 7.25. Chitin from insect exoskeletons is an essential compound needed by soil fungi to grow and expand.

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Phosphorite

Phosphorite, phosphate rock or rock phosphate is a non-detrital sedimentary rock that contains high amounts of phosphate minerals. The phosphate content of phosphorite (or grade of phosphate rock) varies greatly, from 4% to 20% phosphorus pentoxide (P2O5). Marketed phosphate rock is enriched ("beneficiated") to at least 28%, often more than 30% P2O5. This occurs through washing, screening, de-liming, magnetic separation or flotation. By comparison, the average phosphorus content of sedimentary rocks is less than 0.

Bat

Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera (kˈaɪɹəptɛɹə). With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most birds, flying with their very long spread-out digits covered with a thin membrane or patagium. The smallest bat, and arguably the smallest extant mammal, is Kitti's hog-nosed bat, which is in length, across the wings and in mass. The largest bats are the flying foxes, with the giant golden-crowned flying fox (Acerodon jubatus) reaching a weight of and having a wingspan of .

Feces

Feces (or faeces; : faex) are the solid or semi-solid remains of food that was not digested in the small intestine, and has been broken down by bacteria in the large intestine. Feces contain a relatively small amount of metabolic waste products such as bacterially altered bilirubin, and dead epithelial cells from the lining of the gut. Feces are discharged through the anus or cloaca during defecation. Feces can be used as fertilizer or soil conditioner in agriculture. They can also be burned as fuel or dried and used for construction.

Measurement of ammonia emissions from temperate and sub-polar seabird colonies

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The chemical breakdown of marine derived reactive nitrogen transported to the land as seabird guano represents a significant source of ammonia (NH3) in areas far from other NH3 sources. Measurements made at tropical and temperate seabird colonies indicate ...

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How Does Circadian Rhythm Impact Salt Sensitivity of Blood Pressure in Mice? A Study in Two Close C57Bl/6 Substrains

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Charge transition levels of nitrogen dangling bonds at Si/SiO2 interfaces: A first-principles study

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The defect levels of the nitrogen dangling bond at the Si/SiO2 interface are determined through a density-functional approach. The composition grading at the interface is modeled through crystalline and amorphous models of stoichiometric SiO2, nitrided SiO ...

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