How Poop Turns Into Forests？

When I was a child growing up in Brazil， I would play by stepping on cow’s poop barefoot just to feel the warm and soft sensation of the digested organic matter going through my toes. But for my family， animal waste had another level of importance. My grandma would sell the manure and split the money with my mom.

That was my mom’s only income as a housewife， raising her four children， while my father worked in our farm. That’s my grandma. On that very farm， my grandpa had a stroke of genius. Instead of ordinary fences， he carved out some ditches surrounded by trees， creating forest corridors for animals to cross.

It was like Mother Nature's highway system， allowing critters to commute from one leafy paradise to another. My mom never wanted me to rely on animal waste for a living. My grandpa did not know he was increasing the landscape connectivity for animals to cross， but they were both working on nature-based solutions before the term became trendy.

Two aspects of ecosystem restoration： investing in soil fertility and increasing the landscape connectivity. Bringing back the nutrients， bringing back the forests： both with positive consequences for the entire system. I believe a healthy ecosystem should stand behind every plate of food.

So today， as a scientist， my role is to understand how to produce food while we let animals working in ecosystem resilience in a changing world. So I started where those changes are happening， in the tropics， in Brazil， in the Amazonia. And it’s in there， in the wilds of the tropical forests， the tropical South America， that beholds the star of our tale： the lowland tapir.

Those pig-like creatures grace the landscape from the Amazonia to the Pantanal. Aren’t they cute？ When it comes to big animals， they tend to eat a lot of low-energy food like leaves. But tapirs are different. Up to 36 percent of their diet is based on fruit， and they have a very long digestive system. And they love to go for a walk.

So let’s picture that. They go for a walk. They find fruits along the way， they eat them while they process. And they keep walking in degraded areas， and eventually they poop. And when they poop， they help to spread the seeds in the fruits they love to eat. Tapirs are big， tapirs are tough， and tapirs poop ..." a lot.

And how do I know that？ Because at the research station that I work on， at the Southeast Amazonia， among many other things， we wash poop. We walk in the forest looking for their latrines， and latrines are something like a toilet but without the large bowl， just a lot of poop together.

We find them， collect， wash， count and identify as many seeds as possible. In one dung， we find on average 733 seeds belonging to up to 24 different species. We can see hundreds of seedlings emerging from one dung. And they can become trees， big trees. And because large-seeded trees tend to be deep rooted and drought resistant， those seed dispersers are helping to create a tree community that’s resilient and resistant.

But sometimes， as you can see， tapirs poop too many seeds in one place， leading to competition among the seedlings. So other animals come in to help， luckily. Some of those animals ［are］ the dung beetle. Dung beetles help to disperse the seeds throughout the forest. There are two kinds of dung beetles dispersing seeds： rollers and tunnelers.

Rollers roll the poop away from the source and bury it underground， while tunnelers bury the poop right by the source. When they bury the seeds， they revolve around the soil and may make it better for the seeds and ［increase］ the chances of them to grow into plants. These animals’ interactions can really reseed the forests， but we must preserve their habitats to increase their chances of survival.

When people ask me if forests can regrow without our help， I say we always have to help， even if it is just to get out of the way. But another， more active way to help is by leaving forest patches in the landscape. Forest patches are something like VIP lounges for plants and animals， where critters can hop， skip and jump from one leafy hot spot to another.

And when they do that， they act like real gardeners， bringing back the forests. And they need to do that because the future of those forests is at stake. As scientists， we are concerned with deforestation and degradation. Deforestation takes away those forests those animals are helping to plant for thousands of years. Degradation makes those forests less healthy， harboring fewer animals.

I truly believe that those animals are trying to bring back the spring， despite all the efforts to stop them. So let me throw you some questions. How powerful is the tapirs’ poop？ How far can they travel？ How charming do my friends， totally unconcerned with social conventions， need to be in order to revert the tipping point we are possibly about to reach？

My colleagues and I at the Woodwell Climate Research Center and at the Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental da Amaz?nia are trying to answer those questions， but we already know some of the answers. We know that the resilience of those ecosystems is on the diversity of plants and animals living there.

Our future is intertwined with the future of those animals， and it depends on how good a job we do trying to protect them. And people， I’m not afraid to say： our future lies in poop.

Thank you.

我是在巴西長(zhǎng)大的，小時(shí)候，我會(huì)光腳踩牛糞玩，只為感受那些經(jīng)過(guò)消化的有機(jī)物質(zhì)經(jīng)由腳趾帶給我的溫暖和柔軟。但對(duì)我家來(lái)說(shuō)，動(dòng)物糞便有著另一層重要性。我奶奶會(huì)賣(mài)牛糞，然后把錢(qián)分給我媽媽。

那是我媽媽作為家庭主婦的唯一收入，她撫養(yǎng)著四個(gè)孩子，而我爸爸在我們的農(nóng)場(chǎng)工作。這就是我奶奶。在那個(gè)農(nóng)場(chǎng)，我爺爺有一次靈光一現(xiàn)。他沒(méi)有建造普通的籬笆，而是在樹(shù)木周圍挖了一些溝，創(chuàng)造了動(dòng)物穿越的森林走廊。

這就像是大自然的公路系統(tǒng)，讓動(dòng)物從一個(gè)綠葉天堂通勤到另一個(gè)。我媽媽從不希望我依賴動(dòng)物糞便謀生。我爺爺并不知道他那么做是在增強(qiáng)動(dòng)物穿越的景觀連接，但他們都在這個(gè)術(shù)語(yǔ)變成時(shí)髦名詞前就致力于基于自然的解決方案。

生態(tài)系統(tǒng)恢復(fù)的兩個(gè)方面是：投資土壤肥力和增強(qiáng)景觀連接。帶回養(yǎng)分，帶回森林——這兩者對(duì)整個(gè)系統(tǒng)都有積極的影響。我認(rèn)為，每一盤(pán)食物背后都應(yīng)該有一個(gè)健康的生態(tài)系統(tǒng)。

所以今天，作為一名科學(xué)家，我的職責(zé)是了解如何在生產(chǎn)食物的同時(shí)，在一個(gè)不斷變化的世界中讓動(dòng)物發(fā)揮生態(tài)系統(tǒng)的彈性。因此，我從那些變化正在發(fā)生的地方開(kāi)始，即熱帶地區(qū)，巴西，亞馬遜地區(qū)。就在那里，在熱帶雨林的荒野中，南美洲的熱帶，我們故事的主角出現(xiàn)了：低地貘。

這些長(zhǎng)得像豬的動(dòng)物裝點(diǎn)著從亞馬遜到潘塔納爾的風(fēng)景。它們是不是很可愛(ài)？談到大型動(dòng)物，它們往往吃很多低能量的食物，比如樹(shù)葉。但貘不同。它們的飲食最多有36%基于水果，它們的消化道很長(zhǎng)。而且，它們喜歡散步。

我們來(lái)想象一下吧。它們散著步，一路尋找水果，邊吃邊處理。然后，它們?cè)谕嘶膮^(qū)域繼續(xù)散步，最終會(huì)排出糞便。它們排糞時(shí)，幫助傳播了它們喜歡吃的水果中包含的種子。貘很大，很強(qiáng)壯，而且會(huì)排糞……排很多糞。

我是怎么知道的呢？因?yàn)樵谖夜ぷ鞯奈挥趤嗰R遜東南部的研究站里，除了做其他事，我們還要清洗糞便。我們走進(jìn)森林尋找它們的廁所，廁所有點(diǎn)像馬桶，但沒(méi)有馬桶池，只是一堆糞便。

我們找到糞便，收集、清洗、計(jì)數(shù)并識(shí)別出盡可能多的種子。在一堆糞便中，我們平均能找到733顆屬于多達(dá)24種不同物種的種子。我們可以看到數(shù)百棵幼苗從一堆糞便中生長(zhǎng)出來(lái)。它們可以長(zhǎng)成樹(shù)，大樹(shù)。由于大籽樹(shù)往往根深耐旱，這些種子傳播者正幫助創(chuàng)建一個(gè)具有彈性和抗旱性的樹(shù)木群落。

但有時(shí)，正如你們看到的，貘在一個(gè)地方排出太多的種子，導(dǎo)致幼苗之間的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)。幸運(yùn)的是，其他動(dòng)物會(huì)來(lái)幫忙。其中就有蜣螂。蜣螂可以幫助將種子散播到整個(gè)森林。散播種子的蜣螂有兩種：滾球蜣螂和挖洞蜣螂。

滾球蜣螂把糞便從源頭滾開(kāi)并埋在地下，而挖洞蜣螂則直接把糞便埋在源頭旁邊。當(dāng)它們埋種子時(shí)，會(huì)圍繞土壤旋轉(zhuǎn)，這可能使土壤對(duì)種子更有利，并增加它們長(zhǎng)成植物的機(jī)會(huì)。這些動(dòng)物之間的相互作用確實(shí)可以重新播種樹(shù)林，但我們必須保護(hù)它們的棲息地，以增加它們的生存機(jī)會(huì)。

當(dāng)人們問(wèn)我森林是否可以在沒(méi)有我們幫助的情況下重新生長(zhǎng)時(shí)，我說(shuō)我們總得給予一些幫助，即使只是讓開(kāi)路。但更積極的幫助方式是在景觀中保留森林小片區(qū)。森林小片區(qū)有點(diǎn)像植物和動(dòng)物的貴賓休息室，在那兒，動(dòng)物可以從一個(gè)綠樹(shù)成蔭的熱點(diǎn)跳躍到另一個(gè)。

當(dāng)它們這樣做時(shí)，它們就像真正的園丁，把森林帶了回來(lái)。而且它們需要這樣做，因?yàn)檫@些森林的未來(lái)岌岌可危。作為科學(xué)家，我們擔(dān)心森林砍伐和退化?？撤Z走了這些動(dòng)物數(shù)千年來(lái)幫助種植的森林。退化使這些森林變得不那么健康，容納的動(dòng)物越來(lái)越少。

我真心相信，這些動(dòng)物正排除種種阻礙，盡力帶回春天。在此我問(wèn)大家?guī)讉€(gè)問(wèn)題。貘的糞便有多強(qiáng)大？它們可以走多遠(yuǎn)？我的那些完全不受社會(huì)習(xí)俗約束的朋友們需要多有魅力，才能扭轉(zhuǎn)我們可能即將到達(dá)的臨界點(diǎn)？

我和我在伍德韋爾氣候研究中心及亞馬遜環(huán)境研究所的同事們正努力回答這些問(wèn)題，但我們已經(jīng)知道了一些答案。我們知道，這些生態(tài)系統(tǒng)的恢復(fù)取決于那里生活的植物和動(dòng)物的多樣性。

我們的未來(lái)與這些動(dòng)物的未來(lái)交織在一起，它取決于我們?cè)诒Ｗo(hù)那些動(dòng)物方面做得有多好。各位，我恐怕只能說(shuō)：我們的未來(lái)靠糞便了。

謝謝。