Venice, a city built on a series of islands in the Venetian Lagoon, is becoming a key site for scientists studying how climate change affects ecosystems. The city is sinking slightly due to the compression of the soil beneath it, while rising sea levels from global warming are making the lagoon more vulnerable to environmental stress. Researchers, including Earth sciences professor Alina Shchepetkina from Western University, have been conducting a study in the lagoon this summer. They are analyzing sediment cores and examining the traces left by small organisms that live in the mud, such as worms and other burrowing creatures known as infauna. These organisms leave behind burrows that can reveal details about their behavior and the environmental conditions they experienced. The research team, which included graduate students Martina Duarte and Tess Gates-Flaherty, collaborated with scientists from the University of Padua, including professor Massimiliano Ghinassi. Together, they examined sediment cores layer by layer to reconstruct how the lagoon’s environment and its organisms have changed over the past several decades. This study was supported by a Mitacs Globalink Research Award and continues research that began in the Bay of Fundy last year. The two locations—Venice Lagoon and Bay of Fundy—have different environmental conditions. Venice is warmer, with finer, muddier sediment and more marshes, while the Bay of Fundy has stronger waves, more sediment movement, and a wider range of sediment types. Although similar organisms were found in both places, the species and the burrows they leave behind showed clear differences. The Venice Lagoon is especially sensitive to climate change because of its shallow depth, connection to the sea, and heavy human activity. Rising sea levels are adding pressure to an ecosystem already altered by centuries of development and recent industrial activity. Recent heat events have raised water temperatures in parts of the lagoon to about 32°C (90°F), which can reduce oxygen levels and affect salinity, pH, and nutrients in the water. These changes can stress the animals living in the sediment. Researchers predict that the burrowing behavior of these organisms may shift as conditions change, with some species possibly disappearing and new ones arriving. In their study, the researchers collected sediment cores by boat, stopping at various environments within the lagoon to examine the landscape, including channels, marshes, and different sediment types. In the lab at the University of Padua, the sediment cores provide a vertical record of environmental changes over the past 70 to 80 years. The team is also studying how burrows and the behavior of organisms have changed, focusing on three different marsh environments and the transition between tidal channels and marshes as rising water levels reshape the landscape. The collaboration with Padua scientists has given the graduate students valuable hands-on experience with new techniques, equipment, and approaches to scientific inquiry.