Seabirds are prominent biovectors whose guano and other wastes are an important source of nutrients that can eutrophy terrestrial and aquatic environments surrounding their breeding and nesting habitats. When these ornithogenically derived nutrients are introduced to waterbodies, they alter aquatic conditions, resulting in shifts in benthic invertebrate communities. In this paleolimnological study, we examined subfossil Chironomidae (non-biting midge) assemblages to assess the impacts of changes in the colony size of the Leach’s Storm-Petrel in three ponds on Baccalieu Island (Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada) over the past ~ 1700 years. Our results indicate that chironomids tracked the growth of the storm-petrel colony (determined by five additional paleolimnological proxies) starting in the early-1800s, and the decline of the colony in the 1980s. Given the shallow nature of the study ponds, assemblage changes likely occurred due to a combination of fluctuations in pH, metal concentrations, and bottom-water oxygen. In the ponds influenced by storm-petrels, we observed a poorly described form of degradation in subfossil chironomids that we attribute to chitinolytic processes mediated by bacteria and/or fungi that thrive on organic matter in productive aquatic systems. This study provides complementary proxy data regarding bottom-water habitats for use alongside other established paleolimnological methods to determine the long-term population dynamics of seabirds.

海鸟是重要的生物媒介，其鸟粪和其他废物是营养的重要来源，可以使它们的繁殖和筑巢栖息地周围的陆地和水生环境富营养化。将这些源自鸟类的营养物引入水体时，它们会改变水生条件，导致底栖无脊椎动物群落发生变化。在这项古湖泊学研究中，我们研究了近1700年前后Baccalieu岛（纽芬兰和拉布拉多）三个池塘中化石的Chironomidae（不咬人的蚊）组合的影响，以评估Leach风暴海狸的殖民地规模变化的影响。年。我们的结果表明，从1800年代初开始，尺虫跟踪了风暴海燕殖民地（由另外5个古生物学代名词决定）的生长，以及1980年代殖民地的衰落。考虑到研究池塘的浅水性质，由于pH值，金属浓度和底部水氧的波动，组合可能发生变化。在受到风暴海燕影响的池塘中，我们观察到亚化石下的拟南芥降解形式描述不佳，我们将其归因于由细菌和/或真菌介导的能够促进生产性水生系统中有机物蓬勃发展的几丁质分解过程。这项研究提供了有关底水生境的补充代理数据，可与其他已建立的古湖泊学方法一起使用，以确定海鸟的长期种群动态。在受到风暴海燕影响的池塘中，我们观察到亚化石下的拟南芥降解形式描述不佳，我们将其归因于由细菌和/或真菌介导的能够促进生产性水生系统中有机物蓬勃发展的几丁质分解过程。这项研究提供了有关底水生境的补充代理数据，可与其他已建立的古湖泊学方法一起使用，以确定海鸟的长期种群动态。在受到风暴海燕影响的池塘中，我们观察到亚化石下的拟南芥降解形式描述不佳，我们将其归因于由细菌和/或真菌介导的能够促进生产性水生系统中有机物蓬勃发展的几丁质分解过程。这项研究提供了有关底水生境的补充代理数据，可与其他已建立的古湖泊学方法一起使用，以确定海鸟的长期种群动态。