Canada geese dispersed cultigen pollen grains from prehistoric Iroquoian fields to Crawford Lake, Ontario, Canada

Abstract

Crawford Lake, Ontario, Canada (43°28.1' N, 79°56.9' W, 278 masl) has varved and AMS dated sediments containing fossil pollen that record native Iroquoian farming ca. AD 1268 to 1520. From before AD 1000 to 1268, bioturbating organisms caused poor varve preservation but since then, well‐preserved varves and dung pellets reflect anoxic bottom water due to meromixis. The onset of varve preservation coincides with the occurrences of pollen grains of Zea (maize), Helianthus (sunflower), Phaseolus (bean), Cucurbita (squash) and Portulaca (purslane), and spores of Ustilago cf. maydis (maize smut). These pollen grains and spores are more abundant in pellets between varve laminae than in the surrounding sediment matrix. Analyses of DNA from five pellets demonstrate that they are dung from wild Canada geese (Branta canadensis). In the autumn, as geese foraged in Iroquoian fields, they inadvertently ingested pollen and spores before flying to the lake. There they roosted and cast the pollen‐rich dung pellets, which became part of the sediment. This study demonstrates that birds, wild geese and perhaps ducks, can be important vectors of pollen to lake sediments located near agricultural settlements.