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Tracking the History and Ecological Changes of Rising Double-Crested Cormorant Populations Using Pond Sediments from Islands in Eastern Lake Ontario

In the Laurentian Great Lakes region, the double-crested cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) has seen a thousand-fold population increase in recent decades. These large colonies of birds now often conflict with socioeconomic interests, particularly due to perceived competition with fisheries and the d...

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Autores principales: Stewart, Emily M., Michelutti, Neal, Shenstone-Harris, Sarah, Grooms, Christopher, Weseloh, Chip, Kimpe, Linda E., Blais, Jules M., Smol, John P.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4516326/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26214177
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0134167
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author Stewart, Emily M.
Michelutti, Neal
Shenstone-Harris, Sarah
Grooms, Christopher
Weseloh, Chip
Kimpe, Linda E.
Blais, Jules M.
Smol, John P.
author_facet Stewart, Emily M.
Michelutti, Neal
Shenstone-Harris, Sarah
Grooms, Christopher
Weseloh, Chip
Kimpe, Linda E.
Blais, Jules M.
Smol, John P.
author_sort Stewart, Emily M.
collection PubMed
description In the Laurentian Great Lakes region, the double-crested cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) has seen a thousand-fold population increase in recent decades. These large colonies of birds now often conflict with socioeconomic interests, particularly due to perceived competition with fisheries and the destruction of terrestrial vegetation in nesting habitats. Here we use dated sediment cores from ponds on islands in eastern Lake Ontario that receive waste inputs from dense colonies of cormorants and ring-billed gulls (Larus delawarensis) to chronicle the population rise of these species and assess their long-term ecological impacts. Modern water chemistry sampling from these sites reveals drastically elevated nutrient and major ion concentrations compared to reference ponds not influenced by waterbirds. Geochemical tracers in dated sediment cores, particularly δ(15)N and chlorophyll-a concentrations, track waterbird influences over time. Fossil diatom assemblages were dominated by species tolerant of hyper-eutrophic and polluted systems, which is in marked contrast to assemblages in reference sites. In addition to establishing long-term ecological impacts, this multi-proxy paleoecological approach can be used to determine whether islands of concern have been long-term nesting sites or were only recently colonized by cormorant or ring-billed gull populations across the Great Lakes, facilitating informed management decisions about controversial culling programs.
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spelling pubmed-45163262015-07-29 Tracking the History and Ecological Changes of Rising Double-Crested Cormorant Populations Using Pond Sediments from Islands in Eastern Lake Ontario Stewart, Emily M. Michelutti, Neal Shenstone-Harris, Sarah Grooms, Christopher Weseloh, Chip Kimpe, Linda E. Blais, Jules M. Smol, John P. PLoS One Research Article In the Laurentian Great Lakes region, the double-crested cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) has seen a thousand-fold population increase in recent decades. These large colonies of birds now often conflict with socioeconomic interests, particularly due to perceived competition with fisheries and the destruction of terrestrial vegetation in nesting habitats. Here we use dated sediment cores from ponds on islands in eastern Lake Ontario that receive waste inputs from dense colonies of cormorants and ring-billed gulls (Larus delawarensis) to chronicle the population rise of these species and assess their long-term ecological impacts. Modern water chemistry sampling from these sites reveals drastically elevated nutrient and major ion concentrations compared to reference ponds not influenced by waterbirds. Geochemical tracers in dated sediment cores, particularly δ(15)N and chlorophyll-a concentrations, track waterbird influences over time. Fossil diatom assemblages were dominated by species tolerant of hyper-eutrophic and polluted systems, which is in marked contrast to assemblages in reference sites. In addition to establishing long-term ecological impacts, this multi-proxy paleoecological approach can be used to determine whether islands of concern have been long-term nesting sites or were only recently colonized by cormorant or ring-billed gull populations across the Great Lakes, facilitating informed management decisions about controversial culling programs. Public Library of Science 2015-07-27 /pmc/articles/PMC4516326/ /pubmed/26214177 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0134167 Text en © 2015 Stewart et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Stewart, Emily M.
Michelutti, Neal
Shenstone-Harris, Sarah
Grooms, Christopher
Weseloh, Chip
Kimpe, Linda E.
Blais, Jules M.
Smol, John P.
Tracking the History and Ecological Changes of Rising Double-Crested Cormorant Populations Using Pond Sediments from Islands in Eastern Lake Ontario
title Tracking the History and Ecological Changes of Rising Double-Crested Cormorant Populations Using Pond Sediments from Islands in Eastern Lake Ontario
title_full Tracking the History and Ecological Changes of Rising Double-Crested Cormorant Populations Using Pond Sediments from Islands in Eastern Lake Ontario
title_fullStr Tracking the History and Ecological Changes of Rising Double-Crested Cormorant Populations Using Pond Sediments from Islands in Eastern Lake Ontario
title_full_unstemmed Tracking the History and Ecological Changes of Rising Double-Crested Cormorant Populations Using Pond Sediments from Islands in Eastern Lake Ontario
title_short Tracking the History and Ecological Changes of Rising Double-Crested Cormorant Populations Using Pond Sediments from Islands in Eastern Lake Ontario
title_sort tracking the history and ecological changes of rising double-crested cormorant populations using pond sediments from islands in eastern lake ontario
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4516326/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26214177
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0134167
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