Periods of rapid environmental change around 12 500 and 10 000 years B.P., as recorded in Swiss lake deposits

In the sediment of three Swiss lakes at a range of altitude from 514 to 2017 m, the Bölling and the Preboreal are recognized as two periods of rapid biotic changes. The main reason is rapid climatic change that triggered shifts in different groups of aquatic and terrestrial organisms. Although these groups would be expected to have very different response times, e.g., to increasing summer temperature, their assemblages responded with surprizing synchroneity. For extracting climatic signals from stratigraphies, the quickly responsive indicators like oxygen isotopes or beetles are useful. For understanding ecological dynamics under a changing climate, the comparison of biota with various response time are important