Bird poop is worth millions, and boosts marine life health

Bird poop is said to be good luck, but a new study suggests it is worth much more.

A new report calculates that feces from seabirds is worth hundreds of millions of dollars annually.

Formally known as guano, the waste is used in commercial fertilizer and nutrients found in the 'white gold' contributes to the health of coastal and marine life.

Scientists suggest the new findings could save gulls, pelicans, penguins and other species of conservation concern.

Ecologist Professor Marcus Cianciaruso, of the Federal University of Goias, Brazil, described the result as 'staggering'. 'Guano production is a service made by seabirds at no cost to us,' he said.

Cianciaruso and his team set out to raise awareness of how crucial seabirds and their habitats are by investigating the cost of their declining populations by calculating the value of these birds' waste.

Researchers estimate seabird poop generates more than $473 million each year and the amount could be more.

'Because there is this scientific and biological importance, it's possible to quantify seabird ecosystem services in a language that the general public and policymakers can begin to understand,' said Cianciaruso.

Only a handful of seabird species produce guano for commercial use, with a majority of them residing in Peru, Chile.

The team wrote in the study published in Trends in Ecology & Evolution that seabirds poop acts as nature's way of returning nutrients back and forth ' between marine and terrestrial habitats.'